Delayed onset of the tropical Asian summer monsoon in CMIP6 can be linked to the cold bias over the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Most global circulation models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulate a delayed onset of the tropical Asian summer monsoon of 3–6 pentads when compared with the observations. However, a clear explanation of this model bias has yet to be developed. This study indicates that 23 of the 31 of CMIP6 models generate both the Tibetan Plateau (TP) cold bias and the delayed monsoon onset across tropical Asia. The aloft TP cold air temperature associated with these models tends to reduce the land–sea thermal contrast and monsoon circulation, and hence it generates a delayed onset for the tropical summer monsoon. Two sensitivity experiments based on a coupled ocean–atmosphere–land GCM, together with additional data analysis, further confirm the underlying connection between monsoon onset and temperature anomaly over the TP. Therefore, it is of great importance that we attempt to reduce the model bias associated with the simulation of monsoon onset by improving the physical process parameterization scheme related to the TP temperatures.