Asian-Pacific Oscillation Research Articles

What does the APO mean?

The Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) is a relatively new teleconnection index and a number of peer-reviewed studies have confirmed its’ existence. This study reexamines the concept of the APO teleconnection as currently published in the literature. Most results have found that this pattern could be defined as its own teleconnection pattern within the Pacific Ocean Basin. This work demonstrates that the APO is inevitably associated with an additional action centre located over the North Atlantic Ocean, and the index can be extended. Previous studies have used a variety of methods to represent the APO, and a method is proposed here to standardise the formulation. It is argued that the extended index proposed here provides a more robust result. The APO typically is identified using the eddy temperature rather than geopotential height as the source material for its construction, as geopotential could not adequately represent this teleconnection pattern. This leads to a discussion regarding the basic criterion for defining teleconnective activity within the extratropical regions. We also identify other problems in the current understanding of APO theory that need to be addressed.

Characteristics of the Asian–Pacific oscillation in boreal summer simulated by BCC_CSM with different horizontal resolutions

The summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) is a major teleconnection pattern that reflects the zonal thermal contrast between East Asia and the North Pacific in the upper troposphere. The performance of Beijing Climate Center Climate System Models (BCC_CSMs) with different horizontal resolutions, i.e., BCC_CSM1.1 and BCC_CSM1.1(m), in reproducing APO interannual variability, APO-related precipitation anomalies, and associated atmospheric circulation anomalies, is evaluated. The results show that BCC_CSM1.1(m) can successfully capture the interannual variability of the summer APO index. It is also more capable in reproducing the APO’s spatial pattern, compared to BCC_CSM1.1, due to its higher horizontal resolution. Associated with a positive APO index, the northward-shifted and intensified South Asian high, strengthened extratropical westerly jet, and tropical easterly jet in the upper troposphere, as well as the southwesterly monsoonal flow over North Africa and the Indian Ocean in the lower troposphere, are realistically represented by BCC_CSM1.1(m), leading to an improvement in reproducing the increased precipitation over tropical North Africa, South Asia, and East Asia, as well as the decreased precipitation over subtropical North Africa, Japan, and North America. In contrast, these features are less consistent with observations when simulated by BCC_CSM1.1. Regression analysis further indicates that surface temperature anomalies over the North Pacific and the southern and western flanks of the Tibetan Plateau are reasonably reproduced by BCC_CSM1.1(m), which contributes to the substantial improvement in the simulation of the characteristics of summer APO compared to that of BCC_CSM1.1.

Interannual variation of the Asian-Pacific oscillation

Previous studies have identified an Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) teleconnection pattern, which exhibits an out-of-phase relationship in the summer tropospheric temperature with warming over the Eurasia and cooling over the Northern Pacific and the Northern America, and vice versa. But the interannual variation of this teleconnection remains obscure. This study points out that interannual variation of the APO teleconnection is associated with the second empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode of the northern-hemisphere upper tropospheric temperature during boreal summer, which accounts for 14% of the variance. A heat budget analysis is conducted for the Eurasian region and the North Pacific region respectively to reveal the cause of the zonal dipole mode temperature structure. For the Eurasia region, the warming is contributed by the adiabatic heating process due to downward vertical motion anomalies. For the Northern Pacific region, the temperature variation is mainly contributed by zonal advection associated with interannual zonal wind perturbation acting on the climatological temperature gradient. Composite analysis and numerical experiments with an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) shows the interannual zonal wind perturbation is related to the sea surface temperature anomalies over the equatorial eastern Pacific.

Relative roles of land- and ocean-atmosphere interactions in Asian-Pacific thermal contrast variability at the precessional band.

In a 250-kyr transient simulation of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), we identified a precessional forced seesaw of the summer middle-upper tropospheric eddy temperature between Asia and the North Pacific as the paleo-APO (Asian-Pacific oscillation). The paleo-APO variability is out of phase with the precession parameter. Corresponding to a positive paleo-APO phase, both the subtropical anticyclonic circulation over the North Pacific and the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) strengthen. Summer anomalous sea surface temperature shows a western cold-eastern warm pattern over the extratropical North Pacific and a zonal positive-negative-positive pattern over the tropical Pacific. The variations in the simulated paleo-APO and East Asian southerly wind at the precessional band agree well with the geological proxies at the Dongge, Sanbao, Linzhu, and Hulu caves in China, which also implies that these proxies may well reflect the variability in the southerly wind over East Asia. Sensitivity experiments further reveal that the reduced precession parameter may enhance the positive paleo-APO phase and the associated EASM because of the response of the land-atmosphere interactions to the precessional insolation changes. The effect of the ocean-atmosphere interactions on the paleo-APO is secondary.

The Asian–Pacific Oscillation pattern in CMIP5 simulations of historical and future climate

ABSTRACTBased on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations, this article evaluated the performance of 33 coupled models in simulating the summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) pattern and projected its change under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The results show that most of the individual models have good capacity to simulate the climate mean state of the spatial structure of the summer APO pattern, while some have poor skill in modelling its secular trend and interannual variability. The multimodel ensemble mean (MME) generally outperforms the individual models. It not only well reproduces the spatial distribution of the observed APO pattern, but also reasonably captures the observed negative trend and interannual variability of the APO. The MME projects a decrease in the APO intensity towards the end of 21st century under both the RCP4.5 and the RCP8.5 scenarios. Large differences in projected change under the two forcing scenarios start to emerge about in the 2040s, with larger decreasing under the RCP8.5 than that under the RCP4.5. Over the course of the second half of the 21st century, the APO pattern will shift eastward slightly in addition to the weakening in intensity as compared to the 1950–2005 mean climate. For the individual models, the majority of models agree on the sign of projected decreasing change in the APO intensity and also exhibit a stronger change under the RCP8.5 scenario than under the RCP4.5 scenario.

On the significance of the interannual relationship between the Asian‐Pacific Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation

AbstractUsing monthly data from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts 40 year Re‐Analysis, this study investigated the interannual relationship between the Asian‐Pacific Oscillation (APO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) for the period of May to August. The NAO is represented by the leading Empirical Orthogonal Function of sea level pressure anomalies over the Atlantic sector. The difference of upper tropospheric eddy air temperature (T′) between Asia and the North Pacific is used to measure the APO. Results clearly show that the APO and the NAO correlated very well on the interannual time scale, with the positive (negative) phase of the APO corresponding to the strong (weak) NAO. Such a relationship is well supported by the atmospheric dynamic process. When the APO is in the positive phase (characterized by the positive T′ anomaly over Asia and the negative T′ anomaly over the North Pacific in the upper troposphere), the upper tropospheric geopotential height increases over Asia and decreases over the North Pacific. Accordingly, anticyclonic circulation and cyclonic circulation anomalies are introduced, respectively, over Asia and south of the North Pacific, and a zonal teleconnection wave train is excited from Asia to the North Atlantic. As a consequence, an anomalous anticyclonic circulation prevails in the low level of the North Atlantic and an anomalous cyclonic circulation appears to its north, which corresponds to the atmospheric pattern of strong NAO. Further study proposes that the quasi‐stationary wave pattern emanating from the western North Pacific region may serve as a bridge for this linkage.

Anomalies of Northern Hemisphere ozone associated with a tropopause‐lower stratosphere teleconnection during summer

ABSTRACTUsing the ozone data set from the satellite observations and the atmospheric reanalysis data sets during 1979–2005, we examine the variability of a tropopause‐lower stratosphere (TS) teleconnection a and its relationship with the ozone change over the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during summer. The TS teleconnection has an approximate opposite phase to that in the upper‐troposphere Asian‐Pacific Oscillation (APO), and the TS teleconnection index (the TS index) is also related well to the APO index. Corresponding to a higher TS index, the ozone generally decreases in the NH mid‐high latitudes (near 40°N and the Far East of Russia). This link between the TS teleconnection and the ozone is physically supported by the changes of the background atmospheric circulation. When the TS index is higher, the decrease of the ozone is closely associated with an increase of the local tropopause height. The upward and downward motion variations in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere in the east and west parts of the anomalous anticyclones associated with the TS index strengthen the exchanges of the ozone between the troposphere and the lower stratosphere, which may cause a decrease of the ozone. The horizontal advection of the ozone could also contribute to the ozone decreases over these regions.

Preceding Factors of Summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation and the Physical Mechanism for Their Potential Influences

Abstract The authors explore the preceding factors of summertime Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) using observations and output from the NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2). Results show that the winter and spring sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical central-eastern Pacific (TCEP) and the spring sea level pressure (SLP) over the north Indian Ocean (NIO) are significantly correlated with summer APO. The preceding TCEP SST anomaly tends to exert a delayed impact on summer APO through the following process. The previous winter TCEP SST anomaly persists until spring and results in SLP anomaly over the NIO in spring. The latter induces a vertical motion anomaly over the western Tibetan Plateau, which alters spring rainfall and underlying soil moisture in situ, further modulating local surface air temperature during the following summer and hence the summer APO. The CFSv2 has high skills in predicting the winter and spring TCEP SST and the spring NIO SLP and successfully captures the observed relationships of TCEP SST and NIO SLP with summer APO. This result explains why the CFSv2 is capable of predicting the summer APO teleconnection by several months in advance.

Improving the Prediction of the Summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation Using the Interannual Increment Approach

Abstract The summer Asian–Pacific oscillation (APO) is a dominant teleconnection pattern over the extratropical Northern Hemisphere that links the large-scale atmospheric circulation anomalies over the Asian–North Pacific Ocean sector. In this study, the direct Development of a European Multimodel Ensemble System for Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction (DEMETER) model outputs from 1960 to 2001, which are limited in predicting the interannual variability of the summer Asian upper-tropospheric temperature and the decadal variations, are applied using the interannual increment approach to improve the predictions of the summer APO. By treating the year-to-year increment as the predictand, the interannual increment scheme is shown to significantly improve the predictive ability for the interannual variability of the summer Asian upper-tropospheric temperature and the decadal variations. The improvements for the interannual and interdecadal summer APO variability predictions in the interannual increment scheme relative to the original scheme are clear and significant. Compared with the DEMETER direct outputs, the statistical model with two predictors of APO and sea surface temperature anomaly over the Atlantic shows a significantly improved ability to predict the interannual variability of the summer rainfall over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley (SRYR). This study therefore describes a more efficient approach for predicting the APO and the SRYR.

Interdecadal hydroclimate teleconnections between Asia and North America over the past 600 years

Hydroclimate teleconnections on interdecadal timescale are poorly understood due to the shortness of the instrumental records. We use tree-ring based hydroclimate reconstructions in Asia and North America (NA) to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of the interdecadal teleconnections over the past 600 years and their associations with coupled ocean–atmosphere patterns. The most dominant interdecadal covarying patterns are the anti-phase hydroclimate change between central Asia and central NA, i.e. the “central Asia–central NA teleconnection”, and the covarying pattern over southwestern (SW) and northeastern (NE) Asia, SW and central NA, i.e. the “SW and NE Asia–SW and central NA teleconnection”. The teleconnections are generally robust except for the cold periods during the Maunder Minimum from the fifteenth century to the end of the sixteenth century and towards the end of the Little Ice Age near the middle nineteenth century. The Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) related atmospheric circulations and the westerlies are found to bridge these interdecadal hydroclimate teleconnections. The coupled ocean–atmosphere patterns in the Southern Ocean can modulate the strength of APO related circulations by modulating the Asian summer monsoon and the westerlies via meridional teleconnections. In addition, the wave train from Southern Ocean to Asia may also play an important role on modulating the interdecadal teleconnections.

Reconstruction of the March–August PDSI since 1703 AD based on tree rings of Chinese pine (<i>Pinus tabulaeformis</i> Carr.) in the Lingkong Mountain, southeast Chinese loess Plateau

Abstract. We utilised tree-ring cores, collected from three sites at Lingkong Mountain located in the southeast part of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), to develope a regional ring-width chronology. Significant positive correlations between the tree-ring index and the monthly Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) were identified, indicating that the radial growth of trees in this region was moisture-limited. The March–August mean PDSI was quantitatively reconstructed from 1703 to 2008 with an explained variance of 46.4%. Seven dry periods during 1719–1726, 1742–1748, 1771–1778, 1807–1818, 1832–1848, 1867–1932 and 1993–2008 and six wet periods during 1727–1741, 1751–1757, 1779–1787, 1797–1805, 1853–1864 and 1934–1957 were revealed in our reconstruction. Among them, 1867–1932 and 1934–1957 were identified as the longest dry and wet periods, respectively. On the centennial scale, the 19th century was recognised as the driest century. The drying tendency since 1960s was evident. However, recent drought in 1993–2008 was still within the frame of natural climate variability based on the 306 yr PDSI reconstruction. The dry and wet phases of Lingkong Mountain were in accordance with changes in the summer Asian-Pacific oscillation (IAPO) and sunspot numbers, they also showed strong similarity to other tree-ring based moisture indexes in large areas in and around the CLP, indicating the moisture variability in the CLP was almost synchronous and closely related with large-scale land–ocean–atmospheric circulation and solar activity. Spatial correlation analysis suggested that this PDSI reconstruction could represent the moisture variations for most parts of the CLP, and even larger area of northern China and east Mongolia. Multi-taper spectral analysis revealed significant cycles at the inter-annual (2–7 yr), inter-decadal (37.9 yr) and centennial (102 yr) scales. Results of this study are very helpful for us to improve the knowledge of past climate change in the CLP and enable us to prevent and manage future natural disasters.

Asian–Pacific Oscillation signal from a Qomolangma (Mount Everest) ice-core chemical record

AbstractThe Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) is a climate pattern related to the thermal differences between the Asian continent and the north Pacific. We present a 1000 year record of the major ions in a 108.83 m ice core from east Rongbuk glacier (28°01′ N, 86°58′ E; 6518ma.s.l.) on the northeast slope of Qomolangma (Mount Everest), and discuss its relationship with a 993 year time series of the summer APO index that has been reconstructed from Beijing’s summer temperature (recorded by a stalagmite) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis shows that crustal major ions (Mg2+, Ca2+, SO42–and NO3–) are highly loaded on EOF1, whereas marine major ions (Cl–and Na+) are highly loaded on EOF2. Higher EOF1 is associated with lower upper-troposphere temperature (UTT) over Mongolia, corresponding to a lower APO index and higher surface pressure. Higher EOF2 is associated with higher UTT over Mongolia, corresponding to a higher APO index and lower surface pressure. The higher burden of major ions and higher summer APO index during the period AD 1000–1323 may be due to drought and warm climate of the major-ion source regions. From AD1323 to 1900, EOF1 and EOF2 do not show a consistent correlation with summer APO index, indicating the complex mechanisms of ion transport over the southern Tibetan Plateau (TP) during this period. After AD 1900, the summer APO index is correlated negatively with EOF1 and positively with EOF2, indicating that ion transport over the southern TP during this period is influenced significantly by the APO. Our examinations of the PDO index and major-ion record show that higher PDO corresponds to higher EOF1 and lower EOF2. This suggests that the correlation between the recorded major-ion concentration and the APO index originates in the seesaw relationship in temperature between the Asian continent and the north Pacific.

A reconstruction of the Asia‐Pacific Oscillation Index for the past 1500 years and its association with the Asian summer monsoon

ABSTRACTThere is a need to understand the long‐term variability Asian‐Pacific Oscillation (APO) due to its close linkages with large‐scale ocean–atmosphere anomalies. The first principal component (PC) of a network of 130 temperature proxies covering East Asia and the northeastern Pacific Ocean was employed to reconstruct the instrumental APO index from 500 to 2006. It explains 46.7% of the instrumental APO variance and correlates significantly with middle to upper tropospheric temperatures. The reconstructed APO reaches its peak in the Little Ice Age (LIA) and is low during the Medieval Climate Anomalies (MCA) period and since the 1850. The APO variations are caused by the temperature difference between East Asia and north Central Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Decadal Oscillations (PDOs) and tropical ocean‐atmospheric features [the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)] are reversely connected to APO variations particularly on long timescale (e.g. centennial timescale) and short timescale (e.g. interannual), respectively, possibly via modulating the strength of the Asian summer monsoon. However, the relationship between the APO and both external forcings (e.g. solar irradiation) and the PDO are quite variable, which is significant only when the influences of the coupled ocean‐atmosphere patterns are weakened. The APO is positively correlated with indices of the hydroclimate of Monsoonal Asia, and is negatively associated with climatic indices for western North America.

Is the Interannual Variability of the Summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation Predictable?

Abstract The summer (June–August) Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) measures the interannual variability of large-scale atmospheric circulation over the Asian–North Pacific Ocean sector. In this study, the authors assess the predictability of the summer APO index interannual variability and the associated atmospheric circulation anomalies using the 1959–2001 hindcast data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (CNRM), and the Met Office (UKMO) general circulation models from the Development of a European Multimodel Ensemble System for Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction (DEMETER) project. The results show that these models predict the summer APO index interannual variability well and have higher skill for the North Pacific than for the Asian upper-tropospheric temperature. Meanwhile, the observed APO-related atmospheric circulation anomalies in the South Asian high, the tropical easterly wind jet over the Asian monsoon region in the upper troposphere, the subtropical anticyclone over the North Pacific, and the summer southwest monsoon over Asia in the lower troposphere are reasonably well predicted in their spatial patterns and intensities. Compared with the observations, however, these models display low skill in predicting the long-term varying trends of the upper-tropospheric temperature over the Asian–North Pacific sector or the APO index during 1959–2001.

Simulation and Dynamical Prediction of the Summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation and Associated Climate Anomalies by the NCEP CFSv2

Abstract The Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) is a dominant teleconnection pattern linking the climate anomalies over Asia, the North Pacific, and other regions including North America. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2) successfully simulates many summer-mean features of the upper-tropospheric temperature, the South Asian high, the westerly and easterly jet streams, and the regional monsoons over Asia and Africa. It also well simulates the interannual variability of the APO and associated anomalies in atmospheric circulation, precipitation, surface air temperature (SAT), and sea surface temperature (SST). Associated with a positive APO are a strengthened South Asian high; a weakened extratropical upper-tropospheric westerly jet stream over North America; strengthened subtropical anticyclones over the Northern Hemisphere oceans; and strengthened monsoons over North Africa, India, and East Asia. Meanwhile, increased precipitation is found over tropical North Africa, South Asia, northern China, and tropical South America; decreased precipitation is seen over subtropical North Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, southern China, Japan, and extratropical North America. Low SAT occurs in North Africa, India, and tropical South America and high SAT appears in extratropical Eurasia and North America. SST increases in the extratropical Pacific and the North Atlantic but decreases in the tropical Pacific. The summer APO and many of the associated climate anomalies can be predicted by the NCEP CFSv2 by up to 5 months in advance. However, the CFSv2 skill of predicting the SAT in the East Asian monsoon region is low.

Weather and climate effects of the Tibetan Plateau

Progress in observation experiments and studies concerning the effects of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) on weather and climate during the last 5 years are reviewed. The mesoscale topography over the TP plays an important role in generating and enhancing mesoscale disturbances. These disturbances increase the surface sensible heat (SH) flux over the TP and propagate eastward to enhance convection and precipitation in the valley of Yangtze River. Some new evidence from both observations and numerical simulations shows that the southwesterly flow, which lies on the southeastern flank of the TP, is highly correlated with the SH of the southeastern TP in seasonal and interannual variability. The mechanical and thermal forcing of the TP is an important climatic cause of the spring persistent rains over southeastern China. Moreover, the thermodynamic processes over the TP can influence the atmospheric circulation and climate over North America and Europe by stimulating the large-scale teleconnections such as the Asian-Pacific oscillation and can affect the atmospheric circulation over the southern Indian Ocean. Estimating the trend in the atmospheric heat source over the TP shows that, in contrast to the strong surface and troposphere warming, the SH over the TP has undergone a significant decreasing trend since the mid-1980s. Despite the fact that in situ latent heating presents a weak increasing trend, the springtime atmospheric heat source over the TP is losing its strength. This gives rise to reduced precipitation along the southern and eastern slopes of the TP and to increased rainfall over northeastern India and the Bay of Bengal.

Reconstructed precipitation for the north-central China over the past 380 years and its linkages to East Asian summer monsoon variability

Drought is a recurring phenomenon in north-central China. Long-term information about the history of drought is still limited because the instrumental records for many areas in north-central China go back only a few decades at best. This paper presents an earlywood width (EWW) chronology of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) in the Shimen Mountains, Tianshui, eastern Gansu, north-central China. The climate-response analysis shows that April–July precipitation is the main factor limiting the earlywood growth of Chinese pines in the Shimen Mountains, Tianshui. Based on the EWW chronology, an April–July precipitation reconstruction for the period A.D. 1629–2008 was developed for Tianshui. The climate/tree-growth model accounts for 41.6% of the observed precipitation variance during the period 1953–2008. Spatial analysis shows that the precipitation reconstruction contains a strong common drought signal for north-central China. Reconstructed drought events are compared to a precipitation reconstruction of Huashan and historical archives for north-central China. The results reveal common climatic extremes over much of north-central China. Moreover, some dry periods coincided with solar minima or volcanic eruptions over the past several hundred years. Multi-taper spectral analysis reveals the existence of significant 3.8-year (90%), 3.1-year (95%), 2.7-year (99%), 2.4-year (99%) and 2.0-year (99%) periods of variability. The linkages to the Asian-Pacific Oscillation Index suggest regional precipitation variations may be linked to the East Asian summer monsoon circulations.

Boreal summer continental monsoon rainfall and hydroclimate anomalies associated with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation

With the twentieth century analysis data (1901–2002) for atmospheric circulation, precipitation, Palmer drought severity index, and sea surface temperature (SST), we show that the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) during boreal summer is a major mode of the earth climate variation linking to global atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate anomalies, especially the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer land monsoon. Associated with a positive APO phase are the warm troposphere over the Eurasian land and the relatively cool troposphere over the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Such an amplified land–ocean thermal contrast between the Eurasian land and its adjacent oceans signifies a stronger than normal NH summer monsoon, with the strengthened southerly or southwesterly monsoon prevailing over tropical Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. A positive APO implies an enhanced summer monsoon rainfall over all major NH land monsoon regions: West Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Mexico. Thus, APO is a sensible measure of the NH land monsoon rainfall intensity. Meanwhile, reduced precipitation appears over the arid and semiarid regions of northern Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia, manifesting the monsoon-desert coupling. On the other hand, surrounded by the cool troposphere over the North Pacific and North Atlantic, the extratropical North America has weakened low-level continental low and upper-level ridge, hence a deficient summer rainfall. Corresponding to a high APO index, the African and South Asian monsoon regions are wet and cool, the East Asian monsoon region is wet and hot, and the extratropical North America is dry and hot. Wet and dry climates correspond to wet and dry soil conditions, respectively. The APO is also associated with significant variations of SST in the entire Pacific and the extratropical North Atlantic during boreal summer, which resembles the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation in SST. Of note is that the Pacific SST anomalies are not present throughout the year, rather, mainly occur in late spring, peak at late summer, and are nearly absent during boreal winter. The season-dependent APO–SST relationship and the origin of the APO remain elusive.

Long-term variation of temperature over North China and its links with large-scale atmospheric circulation

A May–July temperature reconstruction is based on tree-ring widths of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) from Ningwu, Shanxi Province, China. The reconstruction explains 45.1% of the variance in observed May–July temperature. The intervals with persistent decadal warmth include 1779–1792, 1827–1839, 1853–1865, 1898–1932, 1936–1948 and 1987–2003. Intervals with persistent decadal cold include 1793–1807, 1814–1826, 1866–1888, 1949–1963 and 1976–1986. Spatial correlation between the reconstruction and the gridded temperature datasets reveals that the reconstruction is representative of temperature variability in semi-arid/arid regions of East Asia, including the Gobi Desert, the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain. The regions are referred to as North China in this study. Significant correlation with the January–August temperature reconstruction in the Helan Mountains of Northwest China for the overlapping period of 1796–1999 suggests that the reconstruction captures the regional temperature variability for a long-term period. The reconstructed temperature series has a significantly negative correlation with the monsoon rainfall series at inter-annual, decadal and multi-decadal time scales for the overlapping period of 1688–2003, suggesting an influence of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) and the dominant climate regime consisting of either cool/wet or warm/dry weather in the North China. Moreover, for the past three centuries, synchronous variations are found for the reconstructed temperature as well as the reconstructed Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) at decadal and multi-decadal time scales, suggesting the influences of large-scale atmospheric circulations on temperature variability in the North China. The possible mechanisms behind these links are also explained with observed climate data.

Simulating changes of spring Asian‐Pacific oscillation and associated atmospheric circulation in the mid‐Holocene

AbstractChanges of the upper‐tropospheric temperature teleconnection and the associated atmospheric circulations in spring (Mar‐April‐May, MAM) during the mid‐Holocene are preliminarily examined by using the CCSM3 simulation data archived in the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) database. The simulation result shows that in the mid‐Holocene the atmospheric circulation over the Asian‐North Pacific region showed the variability of the teleconnection pattern resembling the present Asian‐Pacific oscillation (APO), which is characterized by a warming (cooling) upper troposphere over Asia corresponding to a cooling (warming) upper troposphere over the North Pacific and indicates a thermal contrast between Asia and the North Pacific. In comparison with the present climate, the mid‐Holocene upper‐tropospheric temperature in spring was modelled to be lower over Asia and higher over the North Pacific, indicative of a weaker spring APO. Associated with such a condition, both the upper‐tropospheric high (low) and the lower‐tropospheric low (high) over Asia (central‐eastern Pacific) were weakened in the mid‐Holocene. Accordingly, anomalous descending (ascending) motion appeared over East Asia (central‐eastern Pacific). This circulation background is unfavourable (favourable) for the occurrence of precipitation, and thus the mid‐Holocene precipitation decreases (increases) in this region as compared with the present. Hence, the change of the spring thermal contrast between Asia and the North Pacific played a crucial role in the anomalies of the atmospheric circulations and precipitation over the Asian‐Pacific region during the mid‐Holocene. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society