Interdecadal variability of the East Asian summer monsoon in an AGCM

Abstract

It is well known that significant interdecadal variation of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) occurred around the end of the 1970s. Whether these variations can be attributed to the evolution of global sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration distribution is investigated with an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). The model is forced with observed monthly global SST and sea ice evolution through 1958–1999. A total of four integrations starting from different initial conditions are carried out. It is found that only one of these reproduces the observed interdecadal changes of the EASM after the 1970s, including weakened low-level meridional wind, decreased surface air temperature and increased sea level pressure in central China, as well as the southwestward shift of the western Pacific subtropical high ridge and the strengthened 200-hPa westerlies. This discrepancy among these simulated results suggests that the interdecadal variation of the EASM cannot be accounted for by historical global SST and sea ice evolution. Thus, the possibility that the interdecadal timescale change of monsoon is a natural variability of the coupled climate system evolution cannot be excluded.