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The East Asian winter monsoon: re-amplification in the mid-2000s

  • Article
  • Atmospheric Science
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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Based on several reanalysis and observational datasets, this study demonstrates that the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) recovered from its weak epoch and re-amplified in the mid-2000s. Accordingly, East Asia has experienced more cold winters and significant negative surface air temperature anomalies during the recent strong EAWM epoch spanning the period 2004–2012. The associated cooling was mainly located over inland northern East Asia with a west–east orientation. The cooling generally coincided with negative winter temperature trends in eastern Eurasia in the last two decades, possibly contributing to the observed regional cooling trend when the global mean temperature is still trending up. Enhanced wintertime blocking activity around the Ural mountain region and diminished Arctic sea ice concentration in the previous September are suggested to be the responsible internal atmospheric process and external driver for the recent re-amplification of the EAWM, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41230527 and 41025017) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-EW-QN204).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Monsoon System Research, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Lin Wang & Wen Chen

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  1. Lin Wang
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  2. Wen Chen
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Correspondence to Lin Wang.

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Wang, L., Chen, W. The East Asian winter monsoon: re-amplification in the mid-2000s. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 430–436 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-013-0029-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-013-0029-0

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