Climatological Characteristics of the Moisture Budget and Their Anomalies over the Joining Area of Asia and the Indian-Pacific Ocean

The climatological characteristics of the moisture budget over the joining area of Asia and the IndianPacific Ocean （AIPO） and its adjacent regions as well as their anomalies have been estimated in this study. The main results are as follows. In the winter, the northeasterly moisture transport covers the extensive areas at the lower latitudes of the AIPO. The westerly and northerly moisture transport is the major source and the South Indian Ocean （SIO） is the moisture sink. In the summer, influenced by the southwesterly monsoonal wind, the crossequatorial southwesterly moisture transport across Somali originating from the SIO is transported through the Arabian Sea （AS）, the Bay of Bengal （BOB）, and the South China Sea （SCS） to eastern China. The AIPO is controlled by the southwesterly moisture transport. The net moisture influx over the AIPO has obvious interannual and interdecadal variations. From the mid- or late 1970s, the influxes over the SIO, the AS, the northern part of the western North Pacific （NWNP）, and North China （NC） as well as South China （SC） begin to decrease abruptly, while those over Northeast China （NEC） and the Yangtze River-Huaihe River basins （YHRB） have increased remarkably. As a whole, the net moisture influxes over the BOB and the southern part of the western North Pacific （SWNP） in the recent 50 years take on a linear increasing trend. However, the transition timing for these two regions is different with the former being at the mid- or late 1980s and the latter occurring earlier, approximately at the early stage of the 1970s. The anomalous moisture source associated with the precipitation anomalies is different from the normal conditions of the summer precipitation. For the drought or flood years or the years of E1 Nifio and its following years, the anomalous moisture transport originating from the western North Pacific （WNP） is the vital source of the anomalous precipitation over eastern China, which is greatly related with the variation of the subtropical Pacific high.

Impacts of SST anomalies in the Indian-Pacific basin on Northwest Pacific tropical cyclone activities during three super El Nino years

This study investigated the impact of sea surface temperature(SST)in several important areas of the Indian-Pacific basin on tropical cyclone(TC)activity over the western North Pacific(WNP)during the developing years of three super El Ni?o events(1982,1997,and 2015)based on observations and numerical simulations.During the super El Ni?o years,TC intensity was enhanced considerably,TC days increased,TC tracks mostly recurved along the coasts,and fewer TCs made landfall in China.These characteristics are similar to the strong ENSO-TC relationship but further above the climatological means than in strong El Ni?o years.It indicates that super El Ni?o events play a dominant role in the intensities and tracks of WNP TCs.However,there were clear differences in both numbers and positions of TC genesis among the different super El Ni?o years.These features could be attributed to the collective impact of SST anomalies(SSTAs)in the tropical central-eastern Pacific and East Indian Ocean(EIO)and the SST gradient(SSTG)between the southwestern Pacific and the western Pacific warm pool.During 2015,the EIO SSTA was extremely warm and the anomalous anticyclone in the western WNP was enhanced,resulting in fewer TCs than normal.In 1982,the EIO SSTA and spring SSTG showed negative anomalies,followed by an increased anomalous cyclone in the western WNP and equatorial vertical wind shear.This intensified the conversion of eddy kinetic energy from large-scale flows,favorable for the westward shift of TC genesis.Consequently,anomalous TC activities during the super El Ni?o years resulted mainly from combined SSTA impacts of different key areas over the Indian-Pacific basin.

INTERANNUAL LOW-FREQUENCY OSCILLATIONS OF MERIDIONAL WINDS OVER THE EQUATORIAL INDIAN-PACIFIC OCEANS

Based on analysis of the meridional winds over oceanic areas and SST for 1950--1979 extracted from the data sets of COADS, the long-term variability of the meridional winds over the equatorial Indian-Pacific oceans and its relationship to the onset and development of El Nino events have been studied. The major results are as follows: (1) There is a great similarity between ITCZ over the Pacific and SST in the seasonal trend, with ITCZ and high SST found in the Southern Hemisphere in winter and in the Northern Hemisphere in summer. During El Nino years, unusual meridional winds were often observed, with significant convergence of meridional winds occurring over near-equatorial regions. (2) For the near-equatorial meridional winds, there are three types of interannual LFO: QBO, SO, FYO. QBO plays an important role in the unusual behavior of meridional winds for El Nino years, while SO is very important for both El Nino and cold water years. These two oscil- lations may fit well to the observed variation in the meridional wind. FYO may enhance the variation of mer- idional winds. (3) Interannual LFO of meridional winds originates in the Indian Ocean-Maritime Continent and coastal area of East Pacific. Unusual activities of winter monsoon in both hemispheres and trade winds off the coastal area of East Pacific are believed to be their major cause. (4) Monsoon-trade interaction shows up in the significant amplification of the disturbances of meridional winds while they propagate eastward from monsoon area to trade wind area.

New Metrics of the Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation in the East Asian Summer Monsoon and Its Interdecadal Shift

This study designed a simple index for measuring irregular tropospheric biennial oscillation(TBO) activities, which was used to determine that the TBO in the East Asian Summer Monsoon(EASM), the most important summer precipitation system for China, has strengthened rather than weakened since the late 1970s. The lead/lag correlations between the EASM and tropical Indian-Pacific sea surface temperature(SST) suggest a relationship between interbasin SST and EASM coupling processes and that this alternative correlation pattern is likely related to TBO. Significant correlation occurred only in recent decades, which implies a reinforcement of TBO in the EASM. From records of representative points in the Indian-Pacific, the interdecadal intrinsic SST modes of the areas can be obtained with ensemble empirical mode decomposition owing to its good temporal locality. Statistical results show Indian-Pacific SST interdecadal trends that include out-of-phase and in-phase warming before and after the late 1970s, respectively, which may be responsible for the TBO interdecadal augmentation present since the late 1970s.