Cross-season relation of the South China Sea precipitation variability between winter and summer

The present study reveals cross-season connections of rainfall variability in the South China Sea (SCS) region between winter and summer. Rainfall anomalies over northern South China Sea in boreal summer tend to be preceded by the same sign rainfall anomalies over southern South China Sea in boreal winter (denoted as in-phase relation) and succeeded by opposite sign rainfall anomalies over southern South China Sea in the following winter (denoted as out-of-phase relation). Analysis shows that the in-phase relation from winter to summer occurs more often in El Niño/La Niña decaying years and the out-of-phase relation from summer to winter appears more frequently in El Niño/La Niña developing years. In the summer during the El Niño/La Niña decaying years, cold/warm and warm/cold sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies develop in tropical central North Pacific and the North Indian Ocean, respectively, forming an east–west contrast pattern. The in-phase relation is associated with the influence of anomalous heating/cooling over the equatorial central Pacific during the mature phase of El Niño/La Niña events that suppresses/enhances precipitation over southern South China Sea and the impact of the above east–west SST anomaly pattern that reduces/increases precipitation over northern South China Sea during the following summer. The impact of the east–west contrast SST anomaly pattern is confirmed by numerical experiments with specified SST anomalies. In the El Niño/La Niña developing years, regional air-sea interactions induce cold/warm SST anomalies in the equatorial western North Pacific. The out-of-phase relation is associated with a Rossby wave type response to anomalous heating/cooling over the equatorial central Pacific during summer and the combined effect of warm/cold SST anomalies in the equatorial central Pacific and cold/warm SST anomalies in the western North Pacific during the mature phase of El Niño/La Niña events.