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The responses of East Asian Summer monsoon to the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in an enhanced freshwater input simulation

  • Articles / Atmospheric Science
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

We investigated the response of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) to a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and its mechanism in an enhanced freshwater input experiment (FW) by using a fully-coupled climate model. The response was a weakened EASM and the mechanisms can be explained as follows. The simulated weakened AMOC resulted in a drop in sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic (NA) and, correspondingly, an anomalous high sea level pressure (SLP) over the North American regions, which in turn increased the northeast surface winds across the equator in the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP). The anomalous northeast winds then induced further upwelling in the ETP and stronger air/sea heat exchange, therefore leading to an anomalous cooling of the eastern tropical sea surface. As a result, the climatologic Hadley Circulation (HC) was weakened due to an anomalous stronger sinking of air in the ETP north of the equator, whereas the Walker Circulation (WC) in the western tropical Pacific (WTP) north of the equator was strengthened with an eastward-shifted upwelling branch. This feature was in agreement with the anomalous convergent winds in the WTP, and led to a weakened EASM and less East Asian summer precipitation (EASP). Furthermore, comparison with previous freshwater experiments indicates that the strength of EASP could be influenced by the magnitude of the added freshwater.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nansen-Zhu International Research Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Lei Yu, YongQi Gao, HuiJun Wang, Dong Guo & ShuangLin Li

  2. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center/Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, N-5006, Norway

    YongQi Gao

  3. Sate Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Dong Guo

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  1. Lei Yu
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  2. YongQi Gao
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  3. HuiJun Wang
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  4. Dong Guo
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  5. ShuangLin Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to YongQi Gao.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40805031 and 40875047), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB421401), Hundred Talent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 8-059405) and Knowledge Innovation Key Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-BR-14)

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Yu, L., Gao, Y., Wang, H. et al. The responses of East Asian Summer monsoon to the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in an enhanced freshwater input simulation. Chin. Sci. Bull. 54, 4724–4732 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-009-0720-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-009-0720-3

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