Tropospheric biennial oscillation of summer monsoon rainfall over East Asia and its association with ENSO

Abstract

Based on observations and a set of Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP)-type simulations, the climatic characteristics and dominant spatial patterns of summer rainfall on tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO) time scales over the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) region were examined, and the association with sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation were analyzed. It was noted that to some extent, the AMIP run successfully simulated the spatial distribution and amplitude of the observed TBO component. Furthermore, the AMIP ensemble mean increased the fraction of total variance of the TBO component, suggesting that SSTAs may have a rainfall response over the EASM region on TBO time scales. The analysis also indicated that a spatial pattern of rainfall on TBO time scales with opposite variations between northern and southern China showed a consistent and robust relationship with SSTAs in the tropical Pacific Ocean in both the AMIP simulations and observations. Statistically,when an El Niño (La Niña) develops, northern China favors dry (wet) conditions and southern China favors wet (dry) conditions at TBO time scales.