Intensified gradient La Niña and extra-tropical thermal patterns drive the 2022 East and South Asian 'Seesaw' extremes

Abstract In July and August 2022, a notable “seesaw” extreme pattern emerged, characterized by the “Yangtze River Valley (YRV) drought” juxtaposed with the “Indus Basin (IB) flood”, leading to enormous economic and human losses. We observed that the “seesaw” extreme pattern concurs with the second-strongest sea surface temperature (SST) gradient between the equatorial central and western Pacific caused by the triple-dip La Niña and western Pacific warming. The convergent statistical and numerical evidence suggested that the enhanced SST gradients tend to amplify the western Pacific convection and the descending Rossby responses to the La Niña cooling, promoting the “seesaw” extreme pattern through the westward expansion of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH). Further investigation demonstrated that the magnitude of the YRV surface temperature and IB rainfall exhibited a reversed change from July to August. The persistent cooling of the southern Indian Ocean induced by the triple-dip La Niña increases the cross-equatorial moisture transport, which played a significant role in the record-breaking IB rainfall during July. By contrast, the historic YRV surface temperature occurred in August with a decrease in IB rainfall. The Barents-Kara Sea warming extended the downstream impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation via local air-sea interaction that enhanced the WPSH and the YRV extreme surface temperature by emanating an equatorward teleconnection wave train. The overlay of the tropical thermal conditions and extra-tropical forcings largely aggravated the severity of the “YRV drought and IB flood”.