SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATION OF SEASONAL EXTREME WET DAYS IN CHINA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH SST ANOMALIES

With daily precipitation records at 586 stations in China for 1960-2004, this study investigates the spatio-temporal variation of the number of extreme wet days (NEWD) for each season in China and its relationship with SST anomalies and associated atmospheric circulation anomaly patterns, in which a threshold of extreme precipitation for a season and a station is defined as the value of the 90th percentile when the precipitation records for wet days during the season are ranked in an increasing order. Results show that there are significant increases of the NEWD along the Yangtze River valley during winter and summer, in North China during winter, in South China during spring, in Northeast China during winter and spring, and in Northwest China throughout the seasons, while there is a remarkable decrease in North China during summer. Besides the linear trend, the NEWD also exhibits considerable interannual and interdecadal variabilities. After eliminating the linear trend, the NEWD anomalies show distinct seasonal patterns. The NEWD anomalies are characterized by a "dipole" mode with opposite phases between northern and southern China in spring and autumn, a "tri-pole" mode with opposite phases between Yangtze River valley and southern and northern China in summer, and a "monopole" mode with the same phase over most of China in winter. The relationship of the NEWD anomalies in China with the SST anomalies in Indian and Pacific Oceans is found to be mainly dependent on the ENSO, and associated atmospheric circulation anomaly patterns for the ENSO’s impact on the NEWD in China are identified.     

IMPACT OF ENSO ON THE PRECIPITATION OVER CHINA IN WINTER HALF-YEARS

In this paper, the impact of ENSO on the precipitation over China in the winter half-year is investigated diagnostically. The results show that positive precipitation anomalies with statistical significance appear over southern China in El Nio episodes, which are caused by the enhanced warm and humid southwesterlies along the East Asian coast in the lower troposphere. The enhanced southwesterlies transport more water vapor to southern China, and the convergence of water vapor over southern China increases the precipitable water and specific humidity. In La Nia episodes,although atmospheric elements change reversely, they are not statistically significant as those in El Nio periods. The possible physical mechanism of the different impact of ENSO cycle on the precipitation over southern China is investigated by analyzing the intraseasonal oscillations(ISOs) in El Nio and La Nia winter half-years, respectively. By comparing the characteristics of ISOs in El Nio and La Nia, a physical mechanism is proposed to explain the different responses of the precipitation over China to ENSO in the winter half-year. In El Nio episodes, over western North Pacific(WNP) and South China Sea(SCS) the ISOs are inactive and exert little effect on water vapor transport and convergence, inducing positive precipitation anomalies with statistical significance over southern China in El Nio episodes. In La Nia episodes, however, the ISOs are active, which weaken the interannual variation signals of ENSO over WNP and southern China and lead to the insignificance of the interannual signals related to ENSO. Therefore, the different responses of precipitation over China to ENSO in the winter half-year are possibly caused by the difference of intraseasonal oscillations over WNP and SCS between El Nio and La Nia.     

Summer Extreme Temperatures over East China during 1984-2004 Simulated by LASG/IAP Regional Climate Model CREM

The authors examine extreme summer temperatures over East China during 1984-2004 using a regional climate model named CREM(the Climate version of Regional Eta-coordinate Model),which was developed by LASG/IAP.The results show that the main features of the extreme summer temperatures over East China are reproduced well by CREM,and the skill for the minimum temperature is higher than that for the maximum temperature,especially along the Yangtze-Huai River Valley(YHV).The simulated extreme temperatures are lower than those of observation,especially for the maximum temperature.The bias of extreme temperatures is consistent with the cold bias of the climatological mean summer surface air temperature.The skill of the model in simulating the interannual variability of extreme temperatures increases from north to south.The simulated interannual variation of the minimum temperature is more reasonable than the maximum temperature.The underestimation of net solar radiation at the surface leads to a cold bias of the climatological mean temperature.Furthermore,the model underestimates the light and moderate rain,while overestimates heavy rain.It causes the simulated minimum temperature more reasonable than the maximum temperature.     

Detection and Attribution of Changes in Thermal Discomfort over China during 1961-2014 and Future Projections

In this study, variation in the frequency of thermal discomfort days over China during the period of 1961-2014,including heat discomfort days(HDDs) and cold discomfort days(CDDs), and the influence of external forcings on it are discussed. HDDs are the conditions of overheating and overhumidity(represented by humidity index), and CDDs reflect the dangers from cold temperatures and winds(represented by wind chill index). Observations show significant increases(decreases) in the frequency of HDDs(CDDs) over China from 1961 to 2014, with clear regional distinctions. The historical ALL and greenhouse gas(GHG) simulations can sufficiently reproduce the spatial patterns of the observational trend in the frequency of both HDDs and CDDs over China. Further, the impacts of GHG and anthropogenic forcings on the HDDs(CDDs) are detectable over China, except for central and eastern China, based on the optimal fingerprinting method. GHG forcing is identified as a dominant factor for the observational changes in the frequency of HDDs over southern China;GHG and anthropogenic forcings have dominant effects on the variation in the frequency of CDDs over southwestern China. Although trends in the frequency of HDDs and CDDs in historical aerosol forcing simulations seems to be opposite to observations, an aerosol signal fails to be detected. Natural forcing contributes to the observational variation in the frequency of HDDs over northwestern China. In addition, the future projections of thermal discomfort days indicate that Chinese residents will face more threats of heat discomfort and fewer threats of cold discomfort in the future under global warming.     

Effects of Urbanization on Extreme Warmest Night Temperatures During Summer near Bohai

Many previous studies have focused on the impacts of urbanization on regional mean temperatures. Relatively few have analyzed changes in extreme temperatures. Here, we examine the impact of urbanization on extreme warmest night temperatures from 33 stations in the Bohai area between 1958 and 2009. We compute the Generalized Extreme Value（GEV） distribution of extreme warmest night temperatures and analyze long-term variations in its characteristic parameters. A new classification method based on the factor analysis of changes in extreme night temperatures is developed to detect the efects of urbanization in diferent cities. Of the three parameters that characterize the GEV distribution, the position parameter is the most representative of long-term changes in extreme warmest night temperatures. During the period of rapid urbanization（i.e., after 1978）, all three parameters of the GEV distribution are larger for the urban station group than for the reference station group, so are the magnitudes of their variations, and the urban areas have been experiencing higher extreme warmest night temperatures with larger variability. Diferent types of cities in the Bohai area have all experienced an urban heat island efect, with an average urbanization efect of approximately 0.3 per decade.     

Contributions to the Interannual Summer Rainfall Variability in the Mountainous Area of Central China and Their Decadal Changes

Using a high-resolution precipitation dataset,the present study detected that the mountainous area of central China(MACA)is a hotspot of ENSO’s impact on the summer rainfall variability.Further analysis suggests that both ENSO and atmospheric forcing make contributions to the summer rainfall variability in MACA.The dominant rainfall-related SST mode features as a seasonal transition from an El Niño-like warming in the preceding winter to a La Nina-like cooling in the following autumn,and it explains about 29%of the total variance of the rainfall during 1951–2018.It indicates that ENSO with a rapid phase transition is responsible for inducing summer rainfall anomalies in MACA.Besides,an upperlevel circumglobal wave mode in the Northern Hemisphere during summer also explains about 29%of the summer rainfall variance.Contributions of both the SST and the atmospheric modes have experienced interdecadal changes.The influence of the SST mode gradually increases and plays a dominant role in the recent decades,suggesting that ENSO with a rapid phase transition becomes more important for rainfall prediction in MACA.     

Recent Advances in Dynamical Extra-Seasonal to Annual Climate Prediction at IAP／CAS

Recent advances in dynamical climate prediction at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAP/CAS) during the last five years have been briefly described in this paper. Firstly,the second generation of the IAP dynamical climate prediction system (IAP DCP-II) has been described,and two sets of hindcast experiments of the summer rainfall anomalies over China for the periods of 1980-1994 with different versions of the IAP AGCM have been conducted. The comparison results show that the predictive skill of summer rainfall anomalies over China is improved with the improved IAP AGCM in which the surface albedo parameterization is modified. Furthermore, IAP DCP-II has been applied to the real-time prediction of summer rainfall anomalies over China since 1998, and the verification results show that IAP DCP-II can quite well capture the large scale patterns of the summer flood/drought situations over China during the last five years (1998-2002). Meanwhile, an investigation has demonstrated the importance of the atmospheric initial conditions on the seasonal climate prediction, along with studies on the influences from surface boundary conditions (e.g., land surface characteristics, sea surface temperature).Certain conclusions have been reached, such as, the initial atmospheric anomalies in spring may play an important role in the summer climate anomalies, and soil moisture anomalies in spring can also have a significant impact on the summer climate anomalies over East Asia. Finally, several practical techniques(e.g., ensemble technique, correction method, etc.), which lead to the increase of the prediction skill for summer rainfall anomalies over China, have also been illustrated. The paper concludes with a list of criticalre quirements needed for the further improvement of dynamical seasonal climate prediction.     

On the relationship between the winter Eurasian teleconnection pattern and the following summer precipitation over China

The Eurasian teleconnection pattern(EU) is an important low-frequency pattern with well-known impacts on climate anomalies in Eurasia. The difference of low-level v-winds in several regions in the Eurasian mid–high latitudes is defined as the EU index(EUIV). In this study, the relationship between the winter EUIVand precipitation in the following summer over China is investigated. Results show that there is a significant positive(negative) correlation between the winter EUIVand the following summer precipitation over North China(the Yangtze River–Huaihe River basins). Meanwhile, an interdecadal variability exists in the interannual relationship, and the correlation has become significantly enhanced since the early 1980 s.Thus, the proposed EUIVmay have implications for the prediction of summer precipitation anomalies over China. In positive winter EUIVyears, three cyclonic circulation anomalies are observed—over the Ural Mountains, the Okhotsk Sea, and the subtropical western North Pacific. That is, the Ural blocking and Okhotsk blocking are inactive, zonal circulation prevails in the mid–high latitudes, and the western Pacific subtropical high tends to be weaker and locates to the north of its normal position in the following summer. This leads to above-normal moisture penetrating into the northern part of East China, and significant positive(negative) precipitation anomalies over North China(the Yangtze River–Huaihe River basins), and vice versa. Further examination shows that the SST anomalies over the Northwest Pacific and subtropical central North Pacific may both contribute to the formation of EUIV-related circulation anomalies over the western North Pacific.     

Improving multi-model ensemble probabilistic prediction of Yangtze River valley summer rainfall

Seasonal prediction of summer rainfall over the Yangtze River valley(YRV) is valuable for agricultural and industrial production and freshwater resource management in China, but remains a major challenge. Earlier multi-model ensemble(MME) prediction schemes for summer rainfall over China focus on single-value prediction, which cannot provide the necessary uncertainty information, while commonly-used ensemble schemes for probability density function(PDF) prediction are not adapted to YRV summer rainfall prediction. In the present study, an MME PDF prediction scheme is proposed based on the ENSEMBLES hindcasts. It is similar to the earlier Bayesian ensemble prediction scheme, but with optimization of ensemble members and a revision of the variance modeling of the likelihood function. The optimized ensemble members are regressed YRV summer rainfall with factors selected from model outputs of synchronous 500-h Pa geopotential height as predictors. The revised variance modeling of the likelihood function is a simple linear regression with ensemble spread as the predictor. The cross-validation skill of 1960–2002 YRV summer rainfall prediction shows that the new scheme produces a skillful PDF prediction, and is much better-calibrated, sharper, and more accurate than the earlier Bayesian ensemble and raw ensemble.     

Impact of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Summer Precipitation in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration in China:Regional Climate Modeling Using WRF-Chem

The WRF model with chemistry(WRF-Chem) was employed to simulate the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on summer precipitation over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration in China. With the aid of a high-resolution gridded inventory of anthropogenic emissions of trace gases and aerosols, we conducted relatively long-term regional simulations,considering direct, semi-direct and indirect effects of the aerosols. Comparing the results of sensitivity experiments with and without emissions, it was found that anthropogenic aerosols tended to enhance summer precipitation over the metropolitan areas. Domain-averaged rainfall was increased throughout the day, except for the time around noon. Aerosols shifted the precipitation probability distribution from light or moderate to extreme rain. Further analysis showed that the anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing had a cooling effect at the land surface, but a warming effect in the atmosphere. However, enhanced convective strength and updrafts accompanied by water vapor increases and cyclone-like wind shear anomalies were found in the urban areas. These responses may originate from cloud microphysical effects of aerosols on convection, which were identified as the primary cause for the summer rainfall enhancement.     

Temperature variability in China in an ensemble simulation for the last 1,200?years

Regional temperature anomalies in China during 800?C2005 ad in an ensemble simulation with the atmosphere?Cocean general circulation model ECHAM5/MPIOM subject to anthropogenic and natural forcings are compared to reconstructions. In a mutual assessment of three reconstructed data sets and two ensemble simulations with different solar forcings, a reconstructed data set and a simulated ensemble for weak solar variability are selected for further comparison. Temperature variability in the selected simulated and reconstructed data shows a continuous power spectrum with weak long-term memory. The simulation reveals weak long-term anomaly periods known as the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), the Little Ice Age (LIA), and the Modern Warming (MW) in the three considered regions: Northeast, Southeast, and West China. The ensemble spread yields an uncertainty of ±0.5°C in all regions. The simulated temperature varies nearly synchronously in all three regions, whereas reconstructed data hint to increased decadal variability in the West and centennial variability in the Northeast. Cold periods are found in 1200?C1300 and in 1600?C1900 ad in all regions. The coldest anomalies which are caused by volcanic eruptions in the beginnings of the thirteenth and the nineteenth centuries are only partly consistent with reconstructed data. After 1800, the annual cycle reduces in the Northeast and on the Tibetan plateau, whereas the eastern Pacific shows an enhanced summer?Cwinter contrast.     

Drivers of the Severity of the Extreme Hot Summer of 2015 in Western China

Western China experienced an extreme hot summer in 2015, breaking a number of temperature records. The summer mean surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly was twice the interannual variability. The hottest daytime temperature (T_Xx) and warmest night-time temperature (T_Nx) were the highest in China since 1964. This extreme hot summer occurred in the context of steadily increasing temperatures in recent decades. We carried out a set of experiments to evaluate the extent to which the changes in sea surface temperature (SST)/sea ice extent (SIE) and anthropogenic forcing drove the severity of the extreme summer of 2015 in western China. Our results indicate that about 65%–72% of the observed changes in the seasonal mean SAT and the daily maximum (T_max) and daily minimum (T_min) temperatures over western China resulted from changes in boundary forcings, including the SST/SIE and anthropogenic forcing. For the relative role of individual forcing, the direct impact of changes in anthropogenic forcing explain about 42% of the SAT warming and 60% (40%) of the increase in T_Nx and Tmin (T_Xx and T_max) in the model response. The changes in SST/SIE contributed to the remaining surface warming and the increase in hot extremes, which are mainly the result of changes in the SST over the Pacific Ocean, where a super El Niño event occurred. Our study indicates a prominent role for the direct impact of anthropogenic forcing in the severity of the extreme hot summer in western China in 2015, although the changes in SST/SIE, as well as the internal variability of the atmosphere, also made a contribution.     

An overview of decadal climate predictability in a multi-model ensemble by climate model MIROC

Decadal climate predictability is examined in hindcast experiments by a multi-model ensemble using three versions of the coupled atmosphere-ocean model MIROC. In these hindcast experiments, initial conditions are obtained from an anomaly assimilation procedure using the observed oceanic temperature and salinity with prescribed natural and anthropogenic forcings on the basis of the historical data and future emission scenarios in the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. Results of the multi-model ensemble in our hindcast experiments show that predictability of surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies on decadal timescales mostly originates from externally forced variability. Although the predictable component of internally generated variability has considerably smaller SAT variance than that of externally forced variability, ocean subsurface temperature variability has predictive skills over almost a decade, particularly in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic where dominant signals associated with Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) are observed. Initialization enhances the predictive skills of AMO and PDO indices and slightly improves those of global mean temperature anomalies. Improvement of these predictive skills in the multi-model ensemble is higher than that in a single-model ensemble.     

Volcanoes and ENSO in millennium simulations: global impacts and regional reconstructions in East Asia

The impacts and cooperative effects of volcanic eruptions and ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) are analyzed in a millennium simulation for 800–2005 AD using the earth system model (ESM) ECHAM5/MPIOM/JSBACH subject to anthropogenic and natural forcings. The simulation comprises two ensembles, a first with weak (E1, five members) and a second with strong (E2, three members) variability total solar irradiance. In the analysis, the 21 most intense eruptions are selected in each ensemble member. Volcanoes with neutral ENSO states during two preceding winters cause a global cooling in the year after eruptions up to ?2.5°C. The nonsignificant positive values in the tropical Pacific Ocean indicate an El Niño-like warming. In the winter after an eruption, warming is mainly found in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea in E2 warming extends to Siberia and central Asia. The recovery times for the volcano-induced cooling (average for 31 eruptions) vary globally between 1 and 12 years. There is no significant increase of El Niño events after volcanic eruptions in both ensembles. The simulated temperature and the drought indices are compared with corresponding reconstructions in East Asia. Volcanoes cause a dramatic cooling in west China (?2°C) and a drought in East China during the year after the eruption. The reconstructions show similar cooling patterns with smaller magnitudes and confirm the dryness in East China. Without volcanoes, El Niño events reduce summer precipitation in the North, while South China becomes wetter; La Niña events cause opposite effects. El Niño events in the winters after eruptions compensate the cooling caused by volcanoes in most regions of China (consistent with reconstructions), while La Niña events intensify the cooling (up to ?2.5°C). The simulated and reconstructed drought indices show tripole patterns which are altered by El Niño events. The simulated impact of the Tambora eruption in 1815, which caused the “year without summer” of 1816 in Europe and North America and led to coldness and famines in the Chinese province Yunnan, depends crucially on the ENSO state of the coupled model. A comparison with reconstructed El Niño events shows a moderate cool climate with wet (in the south) and extreme dry anomalies (in the north) persisting for several years.     

SST and ENSO variability and change simulated in historical experiments of CMIP5 models

This work documents the diversity in Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models in simulating different aspects of sea surface temperature (SST) variability, particularly those associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), as well as the impact of low-frequency variations on the ENSO variability and its global teleconnection. The historical simulations (1870–2005) include 10 models with ensemble member ranging from 3 to 10 that are forced with observed atmospheric composition changes reflecting both natural and anthropogenic forcings. It is shown that the majority of the CMIP5 models capture the relative large SST anomaly variance in the tropical central and eastern Pacific, as well as in North Pacific and North Atlantic. The frequency of ENSO is not well captured by almost all models, particularly for the period of 5–6 years. The low-frequency variations in SST caused by external forcings affect the SST variability and also modify the global teleconnection of ENSO. The models reproduce the global averaged SST low-frequency variations, particularly since 1970s. However, majority of the models are unable to correctly simulate the spatial pattern of the observed SST trends. These results suggest that it is still a challenge to reproduce the features of global historical SST variations with the state-of-the-art coupled general circulation model.     

Signal detectability in extreme precipitation changes assessed from twentieth century climate simulations

This study assesses the detectability of external influences in changes of precipitation extremes in the twentieth century, which is explored through a perfect model analysis with an ensemble of coupled global climate model (GCM) simulations. Three indices of precipitation extremes are defined from the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution: the 20-year return value (P ₂₀), the median (P _m), and the cumulative probability density as a probability-based index (PI). Time variations of area-averages of these three extreme indices are analyzed over different spatial domains from the globe to continental regions. Treating all forcing simulations (ALL; natural plus anthropogenic) of the twentieth century as observations and using a preindustrial control run (CTL) to estimate the internal variability, the amplitudes of response patterns to anthropogenic (ANT), natural (NAT), greenhouse-gases (GHG), and sulfate aerosols (SUL) forcings are estimated using a Bayesian decision method. Results show that there are decisively detectable ANT signals in global, hemispheric, and zonal band areas. When only land is considered, the global and hemispheric detection results are unchanged, but detectable ANT signals in the zonal bands are limited to low latitudes. The ANT signals are also detectable in the P _m and PI but not in P ₂₀ at continental scales over Asia, South America, Africa, and Australia. This indicates that indices located near the center of the GEV distribution (P _m and PI) may give better signal-to-noise ratio than indices representing the tail of the distribution (P ₂₀). GHG and NAT signals are also detectable, but less robustly for more limited extreme indices and regions. These results are largely insensitive when model data are masked to mimic the availability of the observed data. An imperfect model analysis in which fingerprints are obtained from simulations with a different GCM suggests that ANT is robustly detectable only at global and hemispheric scales, with high uncertainty in the zonal and continental results.     

从2011/2012和2015/2016年冬季大气环流异常看北极海冰以及前期夏季北极大气环流异常的作用

利用美国NCEP/NCAR、欧洲中心ERA-Interim再分析资料,以及英国哈得来中心海冰密集度资料,通过诊断分析和数值模拟试验,研究了2011/2012和2015/2016年两个冬季大气环流异常的主要特征和可能原因。结果表明,尽管热带太平洋海温背景截然不同（分别为弱的拉尼娜事件和强厄尔尼诺事件）,但这两个冬季西伯利亚高压均异常偏强,自1979年以来其强度分别排第1和第5位。前期秋季北极海冰异常偏少是导致这两个冬季西伯利亚高压偏强的主要原因。更为重要的是,前期夏季北冰洋表面反气旋风场,以及其上空对流层中、低层平均气温偏高,加强了北极海冰偏少对冬季大气变率的负反馈,进一步促进了西伯利亚高压的加强,从而有利于东亚地区冬季阶段性强严寒的出现。因此,夏季北极大气环流的动力和热力状态不仅影响夏、秋季北极海冰,而且对海冰偏少影响亚洲冬季气候变率有重要调节作用。2015/2016年冬季强厄尔尼诺事件并不能掩盖来自北极海冰和大气环流的影响。      

Interannual variability of summertime outgoing longwave radiation over the Maritime Continent in relation to East Asian summer monsoon anomalies

The Maritime Continent (MC) is under influences of both the tropical Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Anomalous convective activities over the MC have significant impacts on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and climate in China. In the present study, the variation in convective activity over the MC in boreal summer and its relationship to EASM anomalies are investigated based on regression analysis of NCEP–NCAR reanalysis and CMAP [Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation] data, with a focus on the impacts of ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The most significant interannual variability of convective activity is found over 10°S–10°N, 95°–145°E, which can be roughly defined as the key area of the MC (hereafter, KMC). Outgoing longwave radiation anomaly (OLRA) exhibits 3- to 7-yr periodicities over the KMC, and around 70% of the OLRA variance can be explained by the ENSO signal. However, distinct convection and precipitation anomalies still exist over this region after the ENSO and IOD signals are removed. Abnormally low precipitation always corresponds to positive OLRA over the KMC when negative diabatic heating anomalies and anomalous cooling of the atmospheric column lead to abnormal descending motion over this region. Correspondingly, abnormal divergence occurs in the lower troposphere while convergence occurs in the upper troposphere, triggering an East Asia–Pacific/Pacific–Japan (EAP/PJ)-like anomalous wave train that propagates northeastward and leads to a significant positive precipitation anomaly from the Yangtze River valley in China to the islands of Japan. This EAP/PJ-like wave pattern becomes even clearer after the removal of the ENSO signal and the combined effects of ENSO and IOD, suggesting that convective anomalies over the KMC have an important impact on EASM anomalies. The above results provide important clues for the prediction of EASM anomalies and associated summer precipitation anomalies in China.     

Seasonality and time scales in the relationship between global SST and African rainfall

The main goal of this study is to determine the oceanic regions corresponding to variability in African rainfall and seasonal differences in the atmospheric teleconnections. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) has been applied in order to extract the dominant patterns of linear covariability. An ensemble of six simulations with the global atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM4, forced with observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea ice boundary variability, is used in order to focus on the SST-related part of African rainfall variability. Our main finding is that the boreal summer rainfall (June–September mean) over Africa is more affected by SST changes than in boreal winter (December–March mean). In winter, there is a highly significant link between tropical African rainfall and Indian Ocean and eastern tropical Pacific SST anomalies, which is closely related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, long-term changes are found to be associated with SST changes in the Indian and tropical Atlantic Oceans, thus, showing that the tropical Atlantic plays a critical role in determining the position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Since ENSO is less in summer, the tropical Pacific and the Indian Oceans are less important for African rainfall. The African summer monsoon is strongly influenced by SST variations in the Gulf of Guinea, with a response of opposite sign over the Sahelian zone and the Guinean coast region. SST changes in the subtropical and extratropical oceans mostly take place on decadal time scales and are responsible for low-frequency rainfall fluctuations over West Africa. The modelled teleconnections are highly consistent with the observations. The agreement for most of the teleconnection patterns is remarkable and suggests that the modelled rainfall anomalies serve as suitable predictors for the observed changes.     

海表温度的增暖趋势和自然变率对长江中下游夏季极端降水强度的影响

极端降水引起的洪、涝等灾害每年给我国带来极大的人员伤亡和经济损失。全球增暖使极端降水事件发生的频率增加,强度增强。但是针对不同区域极端降水事件,其贡献究竟如何还有待于进一步认识。本文以我国长江中下游地区的极端降水事件为研究对象,通过典型年份夏季区域极端降水过程的水汽收支特征,探讨海表温度（SST）的增暖趋势和自然变率强迫对该区域典型极端降水强度的影响效应。结果表明:（1）极端降水过程及其夏季都伴随着区域整层大气的水汽辐合,且水汽辐合发生在经向方向。西北太平洋异常反气旋式环流,在区域南边界形成了稳定的西南风异常的水汽输送。（2）典型极端降水过程发生的夏季,SST在赤道印度洋和热带大西洋为强正异常,主要为增暖趋势的贡献,赤道中东太平洋SST异常表现为La Ni?a型。（3）SST增暖趋势和自然变率的数值敏感性试验表明,1998、2017和2020年的SST增暖趋势强迫的区域水汽辐合分别是其自然变率强迫的83%、210%和107%,SST增暖趋势比自然变率的影响更为重要。（4）SST增暖趋势和自然变率都是通过强迫西北太平洋异常反气旋式环流,引起长江中下游区域南边界异常的西南水汽输送,是导致极端降水发生的主要过程。