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The Eurasian continent experienced significant warming during the past decades. West Asia is located in an arid/semiarid zone, and its warming amplification has drawn considerable attention. However, the climatic effect of such a warming is not clear yet. In this study, we explored the possible impacts of recent land surface warming over West Asia on the atmospheric general circulation and climate. Results show that abnormal spring land surface warming over West Asia tends to increase precipitation over North China and decrease (increase) precipitation (air temperature) over Northeast China in early summer (June). It is noted that the precipitation anomalies are much stronger over the eastern region of North/Northeast China. Further analysis suggests that abnormal spring land surface warming can trigger eastward-propagating disturbances via diabatic heating, which intensifies the atmospheric circumglobal teleconnection (CGT) pattern, causing anomalous circulation and climate in early summer over northern China. Sensitivity experiments demonstrate that abnormal spring land surface warming can increase the atmospheric baroclinic instability and trigger Rossby waves that propagate along the westerly jet stream (WJS), resulting in the formation of CGT. Due to persistent land surface thermal forcing and the interaction between the basic flow (especially the WJS) and CGT, the CGT tends to be intensified. The anomalous wave center over East Asia in early summer is responsible for the precipitation increases (decreases) over North (Northeast) China and the evident warming in Northeast China. Our results suggest that the spring land surface thermal anomalies over West Asia can be a potential signal for short-term prediction of early summer climate over northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future changes in the frequency of extreme drought events are of vital importance for risk assessment and relevant policy making. But a reliable estimation of their probability is intrinsically challenging due to limited available observations or simulations. Here, we use two large ensemble simulations, 50 members from CanESM2 and 40 members from CESM1 under the future RCP8.5 scenario, to elaborate a reliable projection of the 100-yr drought events (once in a century) under different warming levels. It is however necessary to first remove systematic biases for the simulated temperature and precipitation through a bias-correction method based on quantile mapping. Droughts are diagnosed with the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), which considers both precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET, involving temperature). The results show that the frequency of extreme droughts increases with the continued global warming. Some differences between the two ensembles are also observed, especially for high warming levels. The China-averaged probability of 100-yr droughts that occur once in a century in the current climate increase by a factor of 1.52 (1.44) and 1.90 (2.02) under 1.5°C and 2°C warming levels in CanESM2-LE (CESM1-LE), respectively. A simple statistical scheme shows that the increasing future risk of extreme droughts is mainly due to the increasing effect of PET on the occurrence of extreme drought events, while the effect of precipitation almost keeps constant with global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of variations and causes of near-surface wind speed (NWS) further understanding of atmospheric changes and improve the ability of climate analysis and projections. NWS varies on multiple temporal scales; however, the centennial-scale variability in NWS and associated causes over China remains unknown. In this study, we employ the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Twentieth Century Reanalysis (ERA-20C) to study the centennial-scale changes in NWS from 1900 to 2010. Meanwhile, a forward stepwise regression algorithm is used to reveal the relationships between NWS and large-scale ocean–atmosphere circulations. The results show three unique periods in annual mean NWS over China from 1900 to 2010. The annual mean NWS displayed decreasing trends of −0.87% and −11.75% decade−1 from 1900 to 1925 and from 1957 to 2010, respectively, which were caused by the decreases in the days with strong winds, with trends of −6.64 and −4.66 days decade−1, respectively. The annual mean NWS showed an upward trend of 55.47% decade−1 from 1926 to 1956, which was caused by increases in the days with moderate (0.43 days decade−1) and strong winds (23.55 days decade−1). The reconstructed wind speeds based on forward stepwise regression algorithm matched well with the original wind speeds; therefore, the decadal changes in NWS over China at the centennial scale were mainly induced by large-scale ocean–atmosphere circulations, with the total explanation power of 66%. The strongest explanation power was found in winter (74%), and the weakest explanation power was found in summer (46%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the interdecadal variability of the relationship between ENSO and winter synoptic temperature variability (STV) over the Asian–Pacific–American region is investigated based on observational data from 1951 to 2018. An interdecadal shift in the ENSO–STV relationship occurred in the 1980s over Eastern China, changing from significant in period 1 (P1; 1951–87) to insignificant in period 2 (P2; 1988–2018). But the ENSO–STV relationship is significantly stable over North America for the whole period. In addition, a possible reason for this interdecadal shift in the ENSO–STV relationship over Eastern China is also investigated. During P1, the ENSO pattern is significantly correlated to the temperature gradient over Northeast Asia, which is the key region influencing the intensification of extratropical eddies. The intensification of extratropical eddies over Northeast Asia is directly associated with the magnitude of STV over Eastern China. But in P2, the ENSO pattern is not related to the temperature over Northeast Asia. Therefore, the change in the ENSO pattern from P1 to P2 contributes to the interdecadal shift in the ENSO–STV relationship in the 1980s over Eastern China by influencing the temperature gradient over Northeast Asia, while ENSO can influence the temperature gradient over North America for the whole period. Furthermore, the possible role of the ENSO patterns in P1 and P2 is also examined by using an atmospheric general circulation model, highlighting that the pattern of SST variation is a determining factor in regulating STV in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]