Instrumental Climate Research Articles

Cryosphere degradation in a changing climate

AbstractOver the last few decades, the instrumental climate record shows a progressive global warming. As one of the most sensitive elements of the Earth's climate system, the cryosphere is significantly affected by this trend. As a result, its various components are readjusting in a situation of disequilibrium with the climate through a series of dynamics. These include the thinning and retreat of glaciers that may lead to the formation of new lakes; the thawing of ground ice, leading to the deformation of terrain; the reduction of snow cover; and the occurrence of mass movements that threaten populations and infrastructures. This Special Issue contains 23 scientific papers with case studies that explore the above issues in the Arctic, Antarctic and high mountain regions.

A multi-centennial drought reconstruction from tree-rings reveals a growing threat to Christmas Island’s water resources

Small islands that depend on limited freshwater resources are at significant risk from seasonal drought, which poses a major threat to both their ecosystems and communities. Christmas Island, located in the eastern Indian Ocean, presents an example for which severe drought conditions during the wet season not only affects its freshwater resources but also biodiversity on the island, including the migration pattern of the iconic red crab species. However, short-term instrumental climate records on this island make it hard to quantify drought variability and assess its associated risks. Tree growth is affected by drought via reduced soil moisture, and hydroclimate reconstruction from tree-ring chronologies can therefore provide longer-term information on historical variability of dry and wet periods. Here, we reconstructed the wet season (December-May) self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) for Christmas Island using 64 remote tree-ring chronologies from Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. scPDSI was reconstructed using the Point-to-Point Regression (PPR) method and compared with regional marine coral proxies for independent verification. The remote tree-ring chronologies explained more than 66 percent of scPDSI variance (R-squared) over the calibration period. The trees identified as significant predictors in the regression model were primarily located in areas affected by the Indo-Pacific climate drivers including the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The reconstructions span 1540 CE to 2000. During the first four centuries of this period, the frequency of extreme (5th percentile) droughts and pluvial events rarely exceeded one event per 13 years. In contrast, the frequency of both extremes experienced an unprecedented increase during the 20th century, and with a notable shift towards dry conditions. These findings highlight a significant shift towards more frequent and severe dry conditions during the wet season on Christmas Island, posing a challenge to water resource management and potentially threatening the island's ecosystem and services to the community.

Organizational ethical climate: influence on employee meaning and well-being

PurposeThe organizational environment can influence how employees experience meaningfulness. This study examines the mediating role of meaningful work between organizational ethical climates and the affective well-being of employees. We also test for the moderating role of self-regulatory traits in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachPartial least squares – structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized model using responses from 430 working professionals. Recommended robustness checks were conducted before model assessment and hypotheses testing.FindingsThe findings suggest that a caring ethical climate is positively related to affective well-being. Meaningful work dimensions, i.e. unity with others, inspiration and balancing tensions partially mediate the relationship between the caring climate and affective well-being. Integrity with self and balancing tensions fully mediate the negative effect of an instrumental climate on affective well-being. Positive mediation of unity with others and negative mediation of reality were observed between a law and code climate and affective well-being. Moderating effects of self- and other-orientation and self-monitoring were also observed.Research limitations/implicationsThe study presents significant insights, however, a few limitations must be discussed. The study has relied on cross-sectional data which may be addressed in future studies.Practical implicationsIn times when organizations are spending in large amounts in ensuring meaningful work and employee well-being, this study suggests internal mechanisms that can bring positive impact in employees' work life. Leaders should assess how employees perceive the ethical climate of the organization in order to provide better meaningful work opportunities to the workforce.Social implicationsHaving meaningful work and experiencing affective well-being are significant for a collective betterment of society. Meaningful work encourages individuals in identifying how their work if affecting the society. A affectively happy workforce is essential in building a mentally healthy society.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the investigation of organizational factors that help employees find meaning in their work. Based on ethical climate theory, this study highlights how organizations can redesign and modify their ethical climates to provide opportunities for employees to experience meaningful work and improve their affective well-being.

Unveiling creativity among the textile sector: an inquiry into the effect of leader vision and the crab syndrome

PurposeThe aim of this research, which is based on social identity theory (SIT), is to investigate the effect of leader vision (LV) and crab syndrome (CS) on creativity. The impact of LV and CS, as well as psychological ownership (PO), on creativity is examined. It is also to determine the mediating role of PO and the moderating role of instrumental climate (IC) in these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe research was carried out with the quantitative research method by adopting the screening design. Deductive logic approach was used to develop hypotheses and theoretical framework. The textile sector, where the emphasis on creativity is at the forefront, was chosen as an example. Data without common method variance (CMV) error were analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe results of the research show that LV is positively related to creativity, while CS is negatively related to creativity. Additionally, a positive correlation has been identified between PO and creativity. It has been revealed that PO has a mediation role in the relationship between the LV and creativity, and the relationship between the CS and creativity. It has been also determined that IC has a moderator role between the LV and PO.Originality/valueThis study introduces a novel perspective on creativity through the integration of the LV and CS concepts. Furthermore, it contributes significantly to the existing creativity literature by examining the impact of PO on creativity and the mediating role of PO.

Examining the link between empowering leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior: the mediating role of role stress and the moderating role of instrumental ethical climate

Examining the link between empowering leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior: the mediating role of role stress and the moderating role of instrumental ethical climate

System justification theory as a foundation for understanding relations among toxic health care workplaces, bullying, and psychological safety.

Toxic work environments and bullying are rampant in health care organizations. The Joint Commission asserted that bullying is a threat to patient safety, and furthermore, it implied that bullying affects clinician psychological safety. However, after decades of trying to reduce bullying, it persists. The purpose of this study was to determine if system justification (SJ) theory can help explain the persistence of bullying in health care organizations. SJ theory posits that people are motivated to justify the systems with which they are embedded, even if those systems are dysfunctional or unfair. A cross-sectional survey of health care workers ( n = 302) was used to test a moderated mediation model to examine relations between instrumental work climate perceptions and psychological safety, as mediated by SJ and moderated by experiences of workplace bullying. Analysis revealed that SJ fully mediated negative relations between instrumental climate and psychological safety; because of SJ the instrumental climate no longer had a direct negative association with psychological safety. Furthermore, bullying was found to play a moderating role in the instrumental climate-SJ relationship. This study found some support for the role of SJ in perpetuating instrumental workplaces and workplace bullying in health care. Some scholars have proposed that a focus on disrupting workplace contexts that trigger SJ in workers could help break patterns of behavior that enable toxic work environments and bullying to persist.

How Executive Boards Set the Stage for Unethical Behavior in the Financial Sector

Unethical behavior in the financial sector is a common and costly phenomenon. The main purpose of this study was to examine how ethical board leadership in the financial sector relates to the ethical climate and incidents of unethical workplace behavior. Surprisingly few studies have examined whether ethical leadership of the top management of organizations relates to lower levels of unethical behavior displayed by organizational members at the work floor. Moreover, the few existing studies have used generic measures of ethical leadership which provide little insight into concrete and visible leadership behaviors that should be displayed by board members to build an ethical climate. Building on Ethical Leadership Theory, Signaling Theory, and the Social Identity Theory of Leadership, we examined whether employees’ perceptions of the board’s commercial focus, unjustified board pay and the board’s focus on consumers’ interests related to an instrumental ethical climate in financial organizations, and indirectly to the incidence of observed unethical behavior. The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets collaborated with the authors of this paper to develop an online survey. At the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, the survey was distributed in 18 organizations, which operated in four subsectors of the Dutch financial sector (four banks, four insurance companies, five financial intermediary companies, and five funeral insurance companies). The survey was completed by 4,144 employees in total. We do not think that the Dutch context is unique, although after the financial crisis, Dutch behavioral codes came to the fore which stated that that executive boards are responsible for preventing unethical behavior. The quantitative, correlational data of the survey were used to conduct structural equation modeling. Confirming our research questions, results showed that the board’s commercial focus and unjustified board pay related to higher levels of unethical workplace behavior, via a more instrumental climate. Moreover, the board’s focus on consumers’ interests negatively related to unethical behavior, via a less instrumental climate. Additionally, we performed content analysis of free-format comments in the survey (N= 195). Results revealed that most comments centered around board pay and addressed this in a negative sense. Perceptions of unjustified board pay seemed to lead to lower identification with the board and elicited ‘them’ (at the top) versus ‘us’ (at the work floor) thinking among employees. In conclusion, this study in the financial sector indicates that exemplary behavior at the top, regarding board pay and the board’s focus on commercial and consumers’ interests, shapes ethical climates in organizations and as such can set the stage for unethical behavior, also towards consumers. Future research on the effects of ethical board leadership should strive to use experimental or longitudinal research design and include objective measures of unethical behavior. We also hope to inspire future research on possible additional dimensions of ethical board leadership in the financial and other sectors. For practice, this study provides insight in concrete and visible behaviors that executive boards must (and must not) display when they want to invest in the ethical climate and lower the likelihood of unethical behavior. It is advisable for (financial) organizations to examine how the ‘tone from the top’ is perceived by employees via anonymous employee surveys and, possibly for board members, to reconsider what kind of ‘tone at the top’ they want to broadcast regarding consumers, profit and pay.

A two-centennial perspective on spatially compounding hydroclimate events in arid and semi-arid north China

Spatially compounding hydroclimate events, means the droughts or pluvials occurring concurrently in different areas, are more damaging to society than those occurring locally. However, the short length of instrumental climate data hampers our understanding of the variability and driving mechanism of spatially compounding hydroclimate events in the past. Here, six tree-ring chronologies along a latitudinal gradient from the arid and semi-arid north China were used to analyze the variation of spatially compounding hydroclimate events over the past two centuries (1821–2017 CE). The results show that the frequency of spatially compounding droughts has increased, while that of spatially compounding pluvials has decreased since 1950s. Composite analysis with sea surface temperature indicated that the occurrence of spatially compounding hydroclimate events in the study area was related to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in the prior winter. Furthermore, we found the phase of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) modulates the influence of ENSO on spatially compounding hydroclimate events. Compounding drought is most common during El Niño and positive phase of PDO, while compounding pluvials is most common during La Niña and negative phase of PDO. These findings offer a reference for the early warning of drought risk and may benefit disaster prediction and mitigation for the north China.

Context Matters Less Than Leadership in Preventing Unethical Behaviour in International Business

This study empirically tests a sequential mediation model that links ethical leadership with employees’ unethical behaviour. The corruption index for countries is used as the moderator, because it represents both the instrumental ethical climate and the employee displacement of responsibility embedded in society’s ethical standards. A total of 175 participants comprising 41 teams (134 dyads) across 13 countries participated in a dyadic two-wave survey. The findings show that ethical leadership has an indirect influence on the avoidance of unethical behaviour by reducing the instrumental ethical climate and by negating the displacement of individuals’ responsibility. In addition, the results also show that this process is not sensitive to the countries’ corruption levels. Such findings suggest that organizations are less prone to adjust their ethical standards to the environment than is usually expected. Accordingly, ethical leaders of MNCs may be instrumental in counteracting any corruptive pressure in the social environment, and likewise, non-ethical leaders may be a contributing factor to fostering corrupt organizations in a society that otherwise values ethical principles in business.

Investigating paleoclimate and current climatic controls at Lago Argentino using sediment pixel intensity time series

The quantity and characteristics of sediment deposited in lakes are affected by climate to varying extents. As sediment is deposited, it provides a record of past climatic or environmental conditions. However, determining a direct relationship between specific climatic variables and measurable sediment properties, for instance between temperature and sediment optical reflectance, is complex. In this study, we investigate the suitability of sediment reflectance, recorded as sediment pixel intensity (PxI), as a paleoclimate proxy at a large ice-contact lake in southern Patagonia, Lago Argentino. We also evaluate whether sediment PxI can be used to investigate the present-day climatic drivers of sedimentation across Lago Argentino. First, we show that sediment PxIs relate to underlying sediment composition, and are significantly correlated with XRF-derived major element composition. Secondly, we find that PxIs correlate with both austral summer temperatures and wind speeds, but not with precipitation. PxI timeseries reach the p<0.1 correlation significance threshold for use as a paleo-wind proxy in as many as 6 cores and a paleo-temperature proxy in up to 4 cores. However, high spatial variability and the non-unique relationship between PxI and both temperature and wind speed challenges the necessary assumption of stationarity at Lago Argentino. While not suitable as a paleoclimatic proxy, correlations between PxI and instrumental climate data do chronicle current climatic controls on sediment deposition at Lago Argentino: high summer temperatures enhance settling of coarse, optically dark grains across the lake basin by promoting ice melt and lake stratification, while high wind speeds reduce the settling of fine, optically bright grains in the ice-proximal regions by transporting sediment-rich waters away from the glacier fronts. The assumptions required for quantitative paleoclimatic reconstruction must be carefully evaluated in complex lacustrine environments, but records unsuitable for use as proxies might nevertheless yield valuable information about the drivers of modern sedimentary transport and deposition.

Protected Areas Conserved Forests from Fire and Deforestation in Vietnam’s Central Highlands from 2001 to 2020

As a tropical nation with ~40% forested land area and 290 protected areas in the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, Vietnam holds an important part of global forests. Despite a complex history of multiple colonial rules, war, rapid economic development and societal growth, Vietnam was one of a few Southeast Asian countries to reverse deforestation trends and sustain net forest cover gain since the 1990s. However, a considerable amount of Vietnam’s forest gain has been from plantation forestry, as Vietnam’s policies have promoted economic development. In the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, widespread forest degradation and deforestation has occurred recently in some areas due to plantation forestry and other factors, including fire-linked deforestation, but protected areas here have been largely effective in their conservation goals. We studied deforestation, wildfires, and the contribution of fire-linked deforestation from 2001 to 2020 in an area near the Da Lat Plateau of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. We stratified our study area to distinguish legally protected areas and those in the surrounding landscape matrix without formal protection. Using satellite-derived data, we investigated four questions: (1) Have regional deforestation trends continued in parts of the Central Highlands from 2001 to 2020? (2) Based on remotely sensed fire detections, how has fire affected the Central Highlands and what proportion of deforestation is spatiotemporally linked to fire? (3) Were annual deforestation and burned area lower in protected areas relative to the surrounding land matrix? (4) Was the proportion of fire-linked deforestation lower in protected areas than in the matrix? To answer these questions, we integrated the Global Forest Change and FIRED VIETNAM datasets. We found that 3794 fires burned 8.7% of the total study area and 13.6% of the area became deforested between 2001 and 2020. While nearly half of fires were linked to deforestation, fire-linked deforestation accounted for only a small part of forest loss. Across the entire study area, 54% of fire-linked deforestation occurred in natural forests and 46% was in plantation forests. Fire ignitions in the study area were strongly linked to the regional dry season, November to March, and instrumental climate data from 1971 to 2020 showed statistically significant increasing trends in minimum, mean, and maximum temperatures. However, the total area burned did not have a significant increasing trend. Regional trends in deforestation continued in Vietnam’s Central Highlands from 2001 to 2020, and nearly half of all detected fires can be spatially and temporally linked to forest loss. However, protected areas in the region effectively conserved forests relative to the surrounding landscape.

Discovering the factors driving regional competitiveness in the face of climate change

Abstract This paper identifies the most influential factors in shaping the climate change competitiveness of the EU regions. We conducted multiple linear regression, geographically weighted regression and polynomial best subset regression analysis to explore the variability in regional competitiveness by economic, environmental, social, innovative and technological factors. The results of the study provide rigorously tested and evidence-based insights into the most instrumental factors shaping climate change competitiveness of the EU regions. The findings revealed that the most affected factors were the number of cooling and heating days, CO emissions, e-banking, digital skills, urbanisation levels and access to technology. On the contrary, the levels of migration and of international scientific publications turned out to be minor. The authors believe that this article highlights several interesting findings and new incentives for further research and discussion regarding regional competitiveness in the face of climate change.

“The sun has become intolerably hot”: local views and memories about Lesotho’s weather – present and past

Globally, mountain environments have undergone substantial climate warming and associated environmental and socio-economic changes. Although past studies have alluded to recent climate change in the Lesotho Highlands, these have largely lacked scientifically based evidence for assessing actual climate change. This paper thus aims to establish (a) instrumental-based changes in rainfall and temperature; and (b) people’s views about the contemporary and past weather, and memories of past extreme weather events, in Lesotho. This was achieved through undertaking 60 interviews across 42 villages in 2008, and then comparing outcomes with (a) instrumental climate records from Mohale’s Hoek and Mokhotlong; and (b) documentary-based evidence of past severe snowfalls. While there is good agreement between people’s views and instrumental records for recent trends in summer temperature and spring rainfall, there is disagreement in winter temperature and annual rainfall trends. Interviewees demonstrate remarkably accurate remembrance of prominent snowfalls since 1930. A key outcome is that the “lived climatic experience” and thus views about “the weather” are determined not only by actual climate patterns and trends in Lesotho, but also by personal frames of reference, prominent weather-related experiences and changes in personal circumstances that impact on weather-related coping capacity and comfort levels.

The global historical climate database HCLIM

There is a growing need for past weather and climate data to support science and decision-making. This paper describes the compilation and construction of a global multivariable (air temperature, pressure, precipitation sum, number of precipitation days) monthly instrumental climate database that encompasses a substantial body of the known early instrumental time series. The dataset contains series compiled from existing databases that start before 1890 (though continuing to the present) as well as a large amount of newly rescued data. All series underwent a quality control procedure and subdaily series were processed to monthly mean values. An inventory was compiled, and the collection was deduplicated based on coordinates and mutual correlations. The data are provided in a common format accompanied by the inventory. The collection totals 12452 meteorological records in 118 countries. The data can be used for climate reconstructions and analyses. It is the most comprehensive global monthly climate dataset for the preindustrial period so far.

Сlimate change: environmental and legal components

The author analyzes the important aspects of the reform of the international legal framework in countering climate change. Currently this issue arises as one of the most controversial in the international community. The problematic of the research explained that the existence of humanity and all life on the planet was under threat. The research work analyzes the prospects of practical improvement of international climate cooperation mechanism and describes the main aspects of the effectiveness the international legal instrumental and institutional climate mechanism. The key task of the research work is to analyze the theoretical and legal rules for the functioning of international legal mechanism in combating climate change.

The relationship between school ethical climate and school effectiveness in Israel 2020

The current research discusses the ethical aspects that were currently not studied yet in the context of the teacher attrition phenomenon and its impact on school effectiveness, which is measured in this research by promoting achievements basing the assumption that teacher perception of ethical climate might explain teacher attrition behaviors, including leaving teaching (Rosenblatt &amp; Shapira-Lishchinsky, 2017). This research has examined teacher perceptions of school ethical climate through three dimensions found to be relevant in the 21st-century era in the aspects of organizational climate in general and school climate in particular, caring ethical climate, law and code ethical climate, and instrumental ethical climate. For this purpose, quantitative research is based on the pioneer researchers Victor &amp; Cullen’s (1987, 1988) questionnaire and self-report of teachers regarding teacher tendency to leave the teaching profession, and their perception of learner achievement promotion in the context of ethical climate in their school was used. To deepen and expand the understanding of teacher perceptions, qualitative research including in-depth interviews was also performed. The research population consisted of 223 teachers from elementary and junior high schools in Israel. The current research indicates a principal finding that expresses the influence and importance of a caring ethical climate in reducing attrition behaviors and teacher attrition intentions and promoting learner achievements. Moreover, it was found that law and code ethical climate is correlated with promoting student achievements, and therefore integrating these two ethical climate dimensions will be the foundation for a program for new and senior teacher preservation in the education system. The research findings are currently relevant since the education system in Israel faces a severe shortage of teachers due to increased teacher attrition of teaching.

Public university workers' perception of instrumental ethical work climate: an exploratory study based on demographic variables

PurposeUsing public universities as research setting, this study explored whether perception of the prevalence of instrumental ethical climate (IEC) differ among employees based on their gender, age, education levels, job tenure and status.Design/methodology/approachStructured survey questionnaires were used in collecting data, and responses from a final sample of 101 senior level university employees were used in the analysis.FindingsResults of independent t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that although participants had a high overall perception of the presence of IEC in their organisations, statistically significant differences in perception were only found for the gender and education level groups. Furthermore, this research concludes that females are more perceptive of, and sensitive to, the existence of unethical decision-making conditions in their work place, compared to males employees; and that employees with low levels of education are more likely to perceive stronger levels of IECs in their work environment, compared to their more educated counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the sample size is large enough for the kind of inferential analytical method employed in this study, it may not be representative of all the public universities in Nigeria. Furthermore, given that private organisations may encourage different ethical work climates than public establishments, the generalisability of our findings is limited.Practical implicationsTo reduce unethical practices in public universities, more women should be encouraged to take up top decision-making positions.Originality/valueCompared to the general business and public service fields, the current study is one of very few studies that empirically examined individual-level antecedents of ethical climate in African Universities.

Evaluation of climate variability on sustainability for transboundary water supply in Chihuahua, Mexico

Study regionThis is study of the Rio Conchos Watershed, Chihuahua, Mexico. Study focusThis study provides assessment of climate variability from analysis of instrumental climate and reservoir operations data, plus nearby tree-ring indices in Chihuahua, Mexico. Water demand include international treaty deliveries, growing agricultural land use, and intensified crop production. Analysis of climate cycles includes frequency analysis of local multidecadal instrumental hydrologic time series and multi-century tree-ring indices. In addition, tree-ring indices were compared with 14C content in tree rings to assess the presence of the millennial solar cycle. New hydrological insights for the regionMost of the climate variability within inter-annual to interdecadal periods are aligned with Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)-like climate cycles. New multi-century climate cycles were discovered from tree-ring indices that have a profound impact on sustainability of food and water security. Historical droughts of 8-year average duration within PDO-like cycles that span longer (12–43 year) periods were newly identified which are longer than the 5-year delivery cycles used in the 1944 International Treaty of the Rivers. Mega-droughts were discovered to occur within multi-century climate cycles. Multi-century cycles identified in tree-ring indices were likely driven by solar luminosity changes from the millennial solar cycle and not just recent anthropogenic climate change. Climate variability and temperature increases will further amplify cycles of supply and demand and exacerbate sustainability, mitigation, and management strategies. Conjunctive use combined with reservoir operations will broaden sustainability portfolio of options, reducing demand effects as well as enhance supply options and replenishment effects.

Possible Role of the Regional NDVI in the Expansion of the Chiefdom of Lijiang during the Ming Dynasty as Reflected by Historical Documents and Tree Rings

Abstract Although many studies have linked complex social processes with climate change, few have examined the connections between changes in environmental factors, resources, or energy and the evolution of civilizations on the Tibetan Plateau. The Chiefdom of Lijiang was a powerful chiefdom located on the eastern Tibetan Plateau during the Ming Dynasty; it began expanding after the 1460s. Although many studies have analyzed the political and economic motivations responsible for this expansion, no high-resolution climate records representing this period of the Chiefdom of Lijiang were available until now. Here, we obtain a 621-yr reconstruction of the April–July normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values derived from moisture-sensitive tree rings from the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Our NDVI reconstruction accounts for 40.4% of the variability in instrumentally measured NDVI values and can effectively represent the historical changes in regional vegetation productivity that occurred on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. In combination with a reconstruction of summer temperatures on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, these results reveal that the regional climate was relatively warm and persistently wet during the period 1466–1630. This period was characterized by long periods of above-mean vegetation productivity on the eastern Tibetan Plateau that coincided with the expansion of the Chiefdom of Lijiang. We therefore propose that the NDVI anomaly and associated favorable political environment may have affected the expansion of the Chiefdom of Lijiang. Instrumental climate data and tree rings also reveal that the early twenty-first-century drought on the eastern Tibetan Plateau was the hottest drought recorded over the past six centuries, in accordance with projections of warming over the Tibetan Plateau. Future climate warming may lead to the occurrence of similar droughts, with potentially severe consequences for modern Asia.

Decadal modulation of East Asian summer monsoon variations by external forcing and internal variability

Both external forcing and internal climate variability are playing significant roles in driving the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) changes. However, dynamic linkages between these natural forcings and EASM on decadal timescales remain uncertain, partly due to the limited instrumental climate data. Here, we present a high-resolution EASM record over the past 200 years based on 2315 δ18O measurements from two annually laminated stalagmites (YX92 and YX120) in Yongxing Cave over the middle Yangtze River Valley (mid-YRV). Our records match well with the δ18O records from the nearby Heshang Cave, showing that EASM intensity in the mid-YRV varies at a dominant periodicity of ∼80 years. The multidecadal-scale oscillations in the EASM intensity are closely related to the ENSO-like states, supporting a notion that the ENSO dominantly modulates the EASM variability. Furthermore, the decadal oscillations in EASM and ENSO are synchronous with tropical volcanic eruptions during the solar minima, probably leading to the enhanced El Niño-like response, intensified EASM and strengthened ENSO-EASM coupling. Our findings imply that external forcings potentially contribute to the anomalies in ENSO and EASM during the ongoing global warming.