Multi-stage onset of the summer monsoon over the western North Pacific

Abstract

 The climatological summer monsoon onset displays a distinct step wise northeastward movement over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific (WNP) (110°–160°E, 10°–20°N). Monsoon rain commences over the South China Sea-Philippines region in mid-May, extends abruptly to the southwestern Philippine Sea in early to mid-June, and finally penetrates to the northeastern part of the domain around mid-July. In association, three abrupt changes are identified in the atmospheric circulation. Specifically, the WNP subtropical high displays a sudden eastward retreat or quick northward displacement and the monsoon trough pushes abruptly eastward or northeastward at the onset of the three stages. The step wise movement of the onset results from the slow northeastward seasonal evolution of large-scale circulation and the phase-locked intraseasonal oscillation (ISO). The seasonal evolution establishes a large-scale background for the development of convection and the ISO triggers deep convection. The ISO over the WNP has a dominant period of about 20–30 days. This determines up the time interval between the consecutive stages of the monsoon onset. From the atmospheric perspective, the seasonal sea surface temperature (SST) change in the WNP plays a critical role in the northeastward advance of the onset. The seasonal northeastward march of the warmest SST tongue (SST exceeding 29.5 °C) favors the northeastward movement of the monsoon trough and the high convective instability region. The seasonal SST change, in turn, is affected by the monsoon through cloud-radiation and wind-evaporation feedbacks.