Inter‐decadal variation of the summer precipitation in China and its association with decreasing Asian summer monsoon Part II: Possible causes

Abstract

AbstractThe present article is the second part of a study on the inter‐decadal variability of the summer precipitation in East China, which mainly addresses the possible cause of this change. Firstly, an updated analysis of the long‐term variations of snow cover, snow days and snow depth in the preceding winter and spring over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) was done by using station and satellite data. The abrupt increase in the winter and spring snow over the TP since around 1977 has been well documented. At that time, the inter‐decadal variation of the atmospheric heating over the TP in spring and summer had been estimated. It has been revealed that the atmospheric heating fields in subsequent spring and summer over the TP assumed a significant weakening after the late 1970s. This weakening is closely related to the significantly reduced surface sensible heat flux into the atmosphere and subsequent cooling over the TP and its surrounding atmosphere. The latter was produced by the increase of surface albedo and soil hydrological effect of melting snow under the condition of abrupt increase in the preceding winter and spring snow over the TP. On the other hand, three phases of significant inter‐decadal warming of the sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical central and eastern Pacific, which occurred in the mid‐1960s, the late 1970s and the early 1990s, respectively, have been found. The above inter‐decadal variability of heating fields over the land area in the Asian region and neighbouring oceanic region of the West Pacific has consistently reduced the land–sea thermal contrast in summer in the Asian monsoon region based on the estimate of atmospheric heating fields. This cause is likely to lead to weakening of the Asian summer monsoon. In such case, the northward moisture transport in East Asia is greatly weakened and cannot reach North China, thus causing the condition of less precipitation or droughts. In contrast, the Yangtze River basin and South China receive a large amount of moisture supply and have strong upward motion, creating favourable conditions for frequent occurrence of heavy rainfall. In the process of the southward shift of the high‐precipitation zone, two abrupt or rapid regime shifts observed in the late 1970s and the early 1990s were possibly in response to the increase in the winter and spring snow over the TP, and two major rapid warming events of the SST in the tropical central and eastern Pacific in the late 1970s and the early 1990s.Correlative analysis has further confirmed that high TP snow and oceanic forcing factors have a positive correlation with the subsequent summer precipitation in the Yangtze River basin and most of South China, and a negative correlation with the summer precipitation in North China. This correlative relationship implies that if the TP has excessive (deficient) snow in the preceding winter and spring and the tropical central and eastern Pacific anomalously warms up (cools down), North China will have decreasing (increasing) summer precipitation, whereas the Yangtze River basin and South China will have increasing (decreasing) summer precipitation. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society