Role of the Indian Ocean basin mode in driving the interdecadal variations of summer precipitation over the East Asian monsoon boundary zone

Abstract

Based on long-term observational and reanalysis datasets from 1901 through 2014, this study investigates the characteristics and physical causes of the interdecadal variations in the summer precipitation over the East Asian monsoon boundary zone (EAMBZ), which is a peculiar domain defined from the perspective of the interplay between climatic systems (i.e., mid-latitude westerly and East Asian summer monsoon). Observational evidence reveals that, similarly to previous studies, the EAMBZ precipitation featured prominent interdecadal fluctuations, e.g., with dry summers during the periods preceding 1927, 1939–1945, 1968–1982, and 1998–2010 and wet summers during the periods of 1928–1938, 1946–1967, and 2011 onwards. Further analyses identify that, amongst the major interdecadal oceanic forcings (e.g., Atlantic multidecadal oscillation and Pacific decadal oscillation), the Indian Ocean basin mode (IOBM) is a significant oceanic forcing responsible for the interdecadal variations of the EAMBZ precipitation, playing an independent and critical modulation role. When the cold phase of the IOBM occurs, an anomalous cyclonic circulation is excited around the northeast corner of the tropical Indian Ocean, which further induces a north-low–south-high meridional seesaw pattern over the Northeast China–subtropical western Pacific (SWP) sector. Such seesaw pattern is conducive to the enhanced EAMBZ precipitation by linking favorable environments for the transportation of water vapor from the SWP and the convergence over the EAMBZ at interdecadal timescales. For this reason, a physical–empirical model for the EAMBZ precipitation is developed in terms of the IOBM cooling. Despite the fact that the extreme summer EAMBZ precipitation cannot be captured by this model, it can still well capture its interdecadal fluctuations and reflect their steady relationship. The key physical pathway connecting the IOBM cooling with the interdecadal variations of the summer EAMBZ precipitation is supported by the numerical results based on the large ensemble experiment and the Indian Ocean pacemaker experiment. Our findings may provide new insights into the understanding of the causes of the interdecadal variations in the summer EAMBZ precipitation, which may favor the long-term policy decision-making for the local hydrometeorological planning.