Abstract
With the warm/cold phases of the El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) as a background, the impacts of monthly variation in the Arctic Oscillation (AO) on the winter climate anomalies in East Asia are studied with the NCEP/DOE Reanalysis 2 data and the Chinese station data regarding temperature and rainfall. The combined effects of ENSO and the AO indicate that the winter climate anomalies are mainly influenced by the AO in northern China and the ENSO in southern China, when an El Niño couples with a negative AO month or a La Niña couples with a positive AO month. These climate anomalies in China are consistent with the mechanisms proposed in previous studies. However, most of China presents a different pattern of climate anomalies if an El Niño couples with a positive AO month or a La Niña couples with a negative AO month, with the exception of the temperature anomalies in northern China, which are still affected dominantly by the AO. Further analysis suggests that the causes are attributed to the differences in both the stratosphere-troposphere interaction and the extratropics-tropics interaction. In the former cases, zonal symmetric circulation prevails in the winter and the extratropics-tropics interaction is weakened. Thus, the influences of the ENSO and the AO on the East Asian climate mainly present linear combination effects. On the contrary, an annular mode of atmospheric circulation is not favored in the latter cases and the extratropics-tropics interaction is strong. Hence, the combined effects of the ENSO and the AO on the winter climate in East Asia present nonlinear characteristics.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ding Y H. Monsoon Over China. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994. 1–432
Huang R H, Zhou L T, Chen W. The progresses of recent studies on the variabilities of the East Asian monsoon and their causes. Adv Atmos Sci, 2003, 20: 55–69
Chan J C L, Li C Y. The East Asia winter monsoon. In: Chang C P, ed. East Asian Monsoon. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company Incorporated, 2004. 54–106
Chen W, Graf H F, Huang R H. The interannual variability of East Asian winter monsoon and its relation to the summer monsoon. Adv Atmos Sci, 2000, 17: 48–60
Lau K M, Chang C P. Planetary scale aspects of the winter monsoon and atmospheric teleconnections. In: Chang C P, Krishnamurti T N, eds. Monsoon Meteorology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. 161–202
Wang L, Chen W, Zhou W. Interannual variations of 500 hPa East Asian trough axis and its influence on the pathway of the East Asian winter monsoon. J Clim, 2009, 22: 600–614
Chen W, Li T. Modulation of Northern Hemisphere wintertime stationary planetary wave activity: East Asian climate relationships by the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation. J Geophys Res, 2007, 112: D20120
Kang L H, Chen W, Wei K. The interdecadal variation of winter temperature in China and its relation to the anomalies in atmospheric general circulation (in Chinese). Clim Environ Res, 2006, 11: 330–339
Chen W, Gu L, Wei K, et al. Studies of the dynamic processes of East Asian monsoon system and the quasi-stationary planetary wave activities (in Chinese). Chin J Atmos Sci, 2008, 32: 950–966
Rasmusson E M, Wallace J M. Meteorological aspects of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. Science, 1983, 222: 1195–1202
Li C Y. Interaction between anomalous winter monsoon in East Asia and El Niño events. Adv Atmos Sci, 1990, 7: 36–46
Zhang R H, Sumi A, Kimoto M. Impact of El Niño on the East Asian monsoon: A diagnostic study of the 86/87 and 91/92 events. J Meteorol Soc Jpn, 1996, 74: 49–62
Wang B, Wu R G, Fu X H. Pacific-East Asian teleconnection: How does ENSO affect east Asian climate? J Clim, 2000, 13: 1517–1536
Chen W. Impacts of El Niño and La Niña on the cycle of the East Asian winter and summer monsoon (in Chinese). Chin J Atmos Sci, 2002, 26: 595–610
Gong D Y, Wang S W, Zhu J H. East Asian winter monsoon and Arctic oscillation. Geophys Res Lett, 2001, 28: 2073–2076
Wu B Y, Wang J. Winter Arctic Oscillation, Siberian High and East Asian winter monsoon. Geophys Res Lett, 2002, 29: 1897
Jeong J H, Ho C H. Changes in occurrence of cold surges over east Asia in association with Arctic Oscillation. Geophys Res Lett, 2005, 32: L14704
Chen W, Yang S, Huang R H. Relationship between stationary planetary wave activity and the East Asian winter monsoon. J Geophys Res, 2005, 110: D14110
Gong D Y, Zhu J H, Wang S W. Significant relationship between spring AO and the summer rainfall along the Yangtze River (in Chinese). Chin Sci Bull (Chin Ver), 2002, 47: 546–549
Thompson D W J, Wallace J M. The Arctic Oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields. Geophys Res Lett, 1998, 25: 1297–1300
Baldwin M P, Dunkerton T J. Propagation of the Arctic Oscillation from the stratosphere to the troposphere. J Geophys Res, 1999, 104: 30937–30946
Suo L L, Tan B K, Huang J Y. Further exploration on causes of temperature anomalies associated with the abnormal northern annular mode. Chin Sci Bull, 2009, 54: 2101–2106
Chen W, Kang L H. Linkage between the Arctic Oscillation and winter climate over East Asia on the interannual timescale: Roles of quasi-stationary planetary waves (in Chinese). Chin J Atmos Sci, 2006, 30: 863–870
Chen W, Zhou Q. Modulation of the Arctic Oscillation and the East Asian winter climate relationships by the 11-year solar cycle. Adv Atmos Sci, 2012, 29: 217–226
Wang L, Chen W. How well do existing indices measure the strength of the East Asian winter monsoon? Adv Atmos Sci, 2010, 27: 855–870
Wen M, Yang S, Kumar A, et al. An analysis of the large-scale climate anomalies associated with the snowstorms affecting China in January 2008. Mon Weather Rev, 2009, 137: 1111–1131
Wang L, Chen W. Downward Arctic Oscillation signal associated with moderate weak stratospheric polar vortex and the cold December 2009. Geophys Res Lett, 2010, 37: L09707
Kanamitsu M, Ebisuzaki W, Woollen J, et al. NCEP-DEO AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2). Bull Amer Meteorol Soc, 2002, 83: 1631–1644
Feng J, Wang L, Chen W, et al. Different impacts of two types of Pacific Ocean warming on Southeast Asian rainfall during boreal winter. J Geophys Res, 2010, 115: D24122
Zhou L T, Tam C, Zhou W, et al. Influence of South China Sea SST and ENSO on winter rainfall over south China. Adv Atmos Sci, 2010, 27: 832–844
Wang L, Feng J. Two major modes of the wintertime precipitation over China (in Chinese). Chin J Atmos Sci, 2011, 35: 1105–1116
Chen W, Graf H F, Takahashi M. Observed interannual oscillations of planetary wave forcing in the Northern Hemisphere winter. Geophys Res Lett, 2002, 29: 2073
Lan X Q, Chen W, Wang L. Quasi-stationary planetary wave-mean flow interactions in the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere and their responses to ENSO events. Sci China Earth Sci, 2012, 55: 405–417
Trenberth K. The definition of El Niño. Bull Amer Meteorol Soc, 1997, 78: 2771–2777
Kalnay E, Kanamitsu M, Kistler R, et al. The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull Amer Meteorol Soc, 1996, 77: 437–471
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, W., Lan, X., Wang, L. et al. The combined effects of the ENSO and the Arctic Oscillation on the winter climate anomalies in East Asia. Chin. Sci. Bull. 58, 1355–1362 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-012-5654-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-012-5654-5