Comprehensive effects of interdecadal change of sea surface temperature increase in the Indo-Pacific Ocean on the warming-wetting of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Abstract

Abstract The correlation characteristics between anomalous changes in summer precipitation on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) and the high-impact areas of global sea-surface temperature (SST) are mainly studied in this paper. The results show that the interdecadal change of the regional “warming-wetting” in China is especially prominent in the northern part of the main body of the QTP, which is therefore identified as the high-value area of precipitation variability. Investigations have revealed that the high-value areas of summer precipitation variability in the northern QTP are significantly correlated with four high-value areas of SST variability, namely the western North Pacific, the western Central Pacific, the Southwest Pacific, and the central Indian Ocean. In these four high-impact areas, a synchronous tendency is found in the SST increase and sea-surface specific humidity. Through the tracking analysis of the correlated vectors of the water vapor source for the warming-wetting of the QTP, it further confirms that the four high-value areas of SST variability in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are the major impact sources of water vapor transport for the warming-wetting of the QTP. Moreover, the comparison of the characteristics of various interdecadal global water vapor transport circulations show that from 1991 to 2020, the trans-equatorial water vapor transport from the Southern Hemisphere witnessed a notable increase, which furthermore suggests that the interdecadal change of SST increase in the Southwest Pacific and central Indian Ocean is the key reason for the warming-wetting of the QTP. In addition, a comprehensive image of high-impact marine water vapor sources for modulating the warming-wetting tendency in the QTP is proposed.