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A regime shift in the interhemispheric teleconnection between the Yellow and East China Seas and the southeastern tropical Pacific during the boreal summer

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Abstract

A drastic regime shift is observed in the early summer connection between the Yellow and East China Seas (YECS) and the tropical Pacific in the early 2000s through statistical estimations on reconstructed datasets for the period 1982–2020. During the pre-2003 period, prior to the regime shift, the summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the YECS were modulated by local oceanic and atmospheric processes, along with their marginal coupling to the tropical Pacific. In contrast, an interhemispheric coupling emerges between the YECS and southeastern tropical Pacific after the regime shift. This teleconnection is attributed to a reduced El Niño signature in the tropical Pacific, which favors the emergence of the South Pacific meridional mode (SPMM) independently from the El Niño-Southern Oscillation signals. The SPMM-related SST anomalies invoke changes in rainfall and vertical motion over the western tropical Pacific, activating the western North Pacific subtropical high over the Philippine Sea. This atmospheric circulation system acts as an atmospheric bridge to mediate the air-sea interacted variability associated with the SPMM into the YECS. The susceptibility of the YECS to atmospheric forcing highlights the role of SST in the YECS as a potential indicator of global-scale climate change.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Go-Un Kim for helpful discussions and Yongchim Min and Jae-Ik Lee for the temperature and salinity time series observations from the Ieodo Ocean Research Station. We also thank Yoo Dam Son for illustrating the schematic diagram to highlight our key results. The revision of the manuscript benefited from the constructive comments and suggestions made by two anonymous reviewers.

Funding

This work was supported by Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST) projects entitled “Establishment of the ocean research station in the jurisdiction zone and convergence research (20210607)” and “Study on air–sea interaction and process of a rapidly intensifying typhoon in the northwestern Pacific (2022056)” funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea. YSK and CJJ were supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant, funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2020R1F1A1070398 and NRF-2020R1F1A1072447). E-SC received support for the project titled “Investigation and Prediction System Development of Marine Heatwave around the Korean Peninsula originated from the Sub-Arctic and Western Pacific,” under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea (PM22090).

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YSK, MK, and CJJ designed the study. E-SC conducted and analyzed the simulated results for AMIP6 and CMIP6. J-YJ and YSK processed the time-series data at Ieodo Ocean Research Station. YSK, MK, S-WY, and E-SC interpreted results. YSK and E-SC wrote the manuscript. S-WY and E-SC helped to improve the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chan Joo Jang.

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Kim, Y.S., Kwon, M., Chung, ES. et al. A regime shift in the interhemispheric teleconnection between the Yellow and East China Seas and the southeastern tropical Pacific during the boreal summer. Clim Dyn 60, 3661–3680 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06529-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06529-1

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