Revisiting the second EOF mode of interannual variation in summer rainfall over East China

The second EOF(EOF2) mode of interannual variation in summer rainfall over East China is characterized by inverse rainfall changes between South China(SC) and the Yellow River-Huaihe River valleys(YH).However,understanding of the EOF2 mode is still limited.In this study,the authors identify that the EOF2 mode physically depicts the latitudinal variation of the climatological summer-mean rainy belt along the Yangtze River valley(YRRB),based on a 160-station rainfall dataset in China for the period 1951-2011.The latitudinal variation of the YRRB is mostly attributed to two different rainfall patterns:one reflects the seesaw(SS) rainfall changes between the YH and SC(SS pattern),and the other features rainfall anomalies concentrated in SC only(SC pattern).Corresponding to a southward shift of the YRRB,the SS pattern,with above-normal rainfall in SC and below-normal rainfall in the YH,is related to a cyclonic anomaly centered over the SC-East China Sea region,with a northerly anomaly blowing from the YH to SC;while the SC pattern,with above-normal rainfall in SC,is related to an anticyclonic anomaly over the western North Pacific(WNP),corresponding to an enhanced southwest monsoon over SC.The cyclonic anomaly,related to the SS pattern,is induced by a near-barotropic eastward propagating wave train along the Asian upper-tropospheric westerly jet,originating from the mid-high latitudes of the North Atlantic.The anticyclonic anomaly,for the SC pattern,is related to suppressed rainfall in the WNP.