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In the present study, we examine the responses of South Asian Monsoon (SAM) rainfall at intra-seasonal scale to remote dust emissions from west Asia, Tibetan Plateau and local dust emissions from within south Asia using a state of the art coupled atmosphere-slab ocean model CESM1-SOM. A series of systematically designed idealized simulations are carried out in such a way that dust emissions from the selected source regions are either perpetually suppressed or enhanced from these source regions and the response of the intra-seasonal oscillations (ISOs) of SAM rainfall to such perturbations in dust emissions are investigated. It is noted that the intra-seasonal variability of SAM rainfall is dominated by three different ISOs with periodicities of 10–20 days, 30–60 days and 60–90 days. Modulations in the characteristics of each of these three ISOs are studied for each of the dust perturbation experiments. Statistically robust K–S test and F test performed on the results from various dust perturbation experiments suggest that the perpetual perturbations in dust emissions from remote sources as well as locally from south Asia can significantly modulate the spatial and temporal structure of the ISOs of rainfall across scales during the monsoon season. Substantial changes are also noted in the spatial scales and propagation characteristics of ISOs attributable to the dust emission changes made over local and remote source regions in our idealized simulations. Our results suggest that perturbations in dust emissions over remote locations can substantially modulate the depth and duration of active and break rainfall events in the south Asian monsoon region. Results presented here have implications for better understanding and predicting the SAM rainfall variability at the intra-seasonal scales or at shorter time scales (~ less than a season) under variable dust emissions from remote and local source regions.

The Westerlies and South Asian Monsoon circulation systems play a key role in providing regional freshwater for domestic and agricultural use. As a result of continuous global warming, the spatial and temporal dynamics of these circulation systems have changed. The impact of such changes on the flow of subtropical rivers in the Hindu-Kush mountains of South Asia has not yet been explored, especially near the junction of the Westerlies and the South Asian Monsoon. This study examined the effect of precipitation and temperature variations on flows in the Swat River basin, which is located at the convergence of the two circulations and is one of the main tributaries of the Indus River. The modified Mann–Kendall (MMK) test was used to investigate the historical (1965–2018) patterns of precipitation, temperature and river flow, and the abrupt shifts in flow regimes were analyzed using the sequential Mann–Kendall (SMK) test. Based on the findings of the SMK test, precipitation and temperature series were classified into pre- and post-mutation periods. Results of the MMK test showed that the precipitation, temperature and flow of the basin were increasing significantly. SMK results demonstrated that the significant increase in river flows started after 1984. The average annual flow in the post-mutation period (1985–2018) increased by 33.70% per decade compared with the post-mutation period (1985–2018). In addition, during the post-mutation period, a strong connection between precipitation and streamflow dynamics was found. We can conclude that the increasing tendency of the annual average streamflow in the North Kush mountains is primarily attributable to the increased quantity of regional precipitation.

Observational analyses reveal that a dominant mode in the South Asian Monsoon region in boreal summer is a westward-propagating synoptic-scale disturbance with a typical wavelength of 4000 km that is coupled with moistening and precipitation processes. The disturbances exhibit an eastward tilt during their development before reaching their maximum activity center. A 2.5-layer model that extends a classic 2-level quasi-geostrophic model by including a prognostic lower-tropospheric moisture tendency equation and an interactive planetary boundary layer was constructed. The eigenvalue analysis of this model shows that the most unstable mode has a preferred zonal wavelength of 4000 km, a westward phase speed of 6 m s−1, an eastward tilt vertical structure, and a westward shift of maximum moisture/precipitation center relative to the lower-tropospheric vorticity center, all of which agree with the observations. Sensitivity experiments show that the moisture–vortex instability determines, to a large extent, the growth rate, while the baroclinic instability helps set up the preferred zonal scale. Ekman-pumping-induced vertical moisture advection prompts an in-phase component of perturbation moisture relative to the low-level cyclonic center, allowing the generation of available potential energy and perturbation growth, regardless of whether or not a low-level mean westerly is presented. In contrast to a previous study, the growth rate is reversely proportional to the convective adjustment time. The current work sheds light on understanding the moisture–vortex and the baroclinic instability in a monsoonal environment with a pronounced easterly vertical shear.

Recent observational and modeling studies have demonstrated the substantial influence of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) spring land surface temperature (LST) and subsurface temperature (SUBT) on downstream summer droughts/floods events in East Asia, highlighting the potential application of LST/SUBT on sub-seasonal to seasonal prediction (S2S). In this study, we employ the National Centers for Environment Prediction—Global Forecast System/Simplified Simple Biosphere model version 2 (GFS/SSiB2) to investigate the potential role of the late spring warm LST anomaly over the TP on the extraordinary June 1998 flood in the south of the Yangtze River region. Numerical experiments indicate that the warmer (above normal) May LST over the TP may contribute to the extreme flood of 1998 over the south of the Yangtze River region, with the LST reproducing about 57% and 64% of observed above-normal rainfall anomaly over the south of the Yangtze River region and southeastern China, respectively. Further analyses reveal a possible effect of springtime TP’s LST on summer southern and eastern Asian rainfall and identify some hot spots, suggesting that the TP’s spring LST effect is not only limited to the Yangtze River region, but to a much larger scale. The imposed warm LST/SUBT over the TP triggers a strong wave activities propagating eastward along the upper-level westerly jet, associated with an increase of the atmospheric baroclinic instability as well as a strengthening and southeastward movement of the South Asian high, leading to intensified moisture convergence and convective instability favorable to the excessive rainfall in the downstream region of East Asia. The results of the 1998 case have also been compared with the results from year of 2003, which had a very cold spring LST anomaly over the TP and a severe downstream June 2003 drought (flood) in southern (northern) of the Yangtze River Basin area. Simulation results provide further evidence of the great importance of the TP spring land surface temperature anomaly in regulating summer extreme hydroclimatic events (e.g. droughts and floods) in South and East Asia. The present study suggests that consideration of LST/SUBT anomalies has a strong potential for more skillful S2S prediction of extreme hydroclimatic events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves over both Southern and Eastern Asia.

The dynamic and thermal effects of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) on the precipitation in the Asian arid and monsoon regions were investigated using three numerical experiments—one using real topography, one with the whole TP removed, and one with sensible heat turned off over the TP. The results show that there are strong seasonal and regional differences in the dynamic and thermal effects of the TP on the precipitation in the Asian arid regions. The dynamic effect dominated the decrease in winter precipitation by blocking the westerly, while the thermal effect dominated the decrease in summer precipitation due to the TP-induced compensation downdraft in Central Asia and arid East Asia. The thermal effect dominated and accounted for 60% of the decrease in summer precipitation in West Asia. The results also show that both the dynamic and thermal effects of TP exhibit a more salient influence on the East Asian monsoon region than the South Asian monsoon region. The thermal effect dominated and accounted for 40% of the increase in summer precipitation due to intensification of the summer monsoon, while the dynamic effect dominated and accounted for 80% of the decrease in winter precipitation due to the northeast wind anomaly in the northern East Asian monsoon region. The anomalous wind can reach to the coast of South China and form frontal precipitation in the southern East Asian monsoon region in winter. The thermal effect dominated and accounted for 80% of the increase in precipitation in the pre-monsoon period due to intensification of the Asian summer monsoon.

The global land monsoon region, with substantial monsoon rainfall and hence freshwater resources, is home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s population. However, it is overwhelmed by extreme precipitation, which is more intense than that on the rest of the land. Whether extreme precipitation has changed significantly, particularly in association with global warming, remains unclear for this region. This study investigates the presence of monotonic trends in extreme precipitation and its association with global warming over the past century over the global land monsoon regions, by employing the most comprehensive, long-running, and high-quality observational extreme precipitation records currently available. Based on a total of 5066 stations with at least 50 years of records, we found significant increases in the annual maximum daily precipitation and associations with global warming in regional monsoon domains, including the southern part of the South African monsoon region, the South Asian monsoon region (dominated by India), the North American monsoon region, and the eastern part of the South American monsoon region during the period of 1901–2010, with responses to global warming of ∼10.4%–14.2% K−1, 7.9%–8.3% K−1, 6.4%–10.8% K−1, and 15.1%–24.8% K−1, respectively. For the global monsoon region as a whole, significant increases in extreme precipitation and associations with global warming are also identified, but with limited spatial coverage. The qualitative results on the significance of the changes on the regional scale are generally robust against different time periods, record lengths of stations, and datasets used. The uncertainty in the quantitative results arising from limited spatial and temporal coverages and use of different datasets deserves attention.

High Mountain Asia (HMA) has experienced a spatial imbalance in water resources in recent decades, partly because of a dipolar pattern of precipitation changes known as South Drying–North Wetting 1 . These changes can be influenced by both human activities and internal climate variability 2 , 3 . Although climate projections indicate a future widespread wetting trend over HMA 1 , 4 , the timing and mechanism of the transition from a dipolar to a monopolar pattern remain unknown. Here we demonstrate that the observed dipolar precipitation change in HMA during summer is primarily driven by westerly- and monsoon-associated precipitation patterns. The weakening of the Asian westerly jet, caused by the uneven emission of anthropogenic aerosols, favoured a dipolar precipitation trend from 1951 to 2020. Moreover, the phase transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation induces an out-of-phase precipitation change between the core region of the South Asian monsoon and southeastern HMA. Under medium- or high-emission scenarios, corresponding to a global warming of 0.6–1.1 °C compared with the present, the dipolar pattern is projected to shift to a monopolar wetting trend in the 2040s. This shift in precipitation patterns is mainly attributed to the intensified jet stream resulting from reduced emissions of anthropogenic aerosols. These findings underscore the importance of considering the impact of aerosol emission reduction in future social planning by policymakers. Dipolar precipitation change in High Mountain Asia during summer is primarily driven by weakened westerly jet and decadal variations in the South Asian monsoon, and the dipolar pattern is projected to shift to a monopolar wetting trend in the 2040s.

Accurate simulation of the South Asian summer monsoon (SAM) is still an unresolved challenge. There has not been a benchmark effort to decipher the origin of undesired yet virtually invariable unsuccessfulness of general circulation models (GCMs) over this region. This study analyzes a large ensemble of CMIP5 GCMs to show that most of the simulation errors in the precipitation distribution and their driving mechanisms are systematic and of similar nature across the GCMs, with biases in meridional differential heating playing a critical role in determining the timing of monsoon onset over land, the magnitude of seasonal precipitation distribution and the trajectories of monsoon depressions. Errors in the pre-monsoon heat low over the lower latitudes and atmospheric latent heating over the slopes of Himalayas and Karakoram Range induce significant errors in the atmospheric circulations and meridional differential heating. Lack of timely precipitation further exacerbates such errors by limiting local moisture recycling and latent heating aloft from convection. Most of the summer monsoon errors and their sources are reproducible in the land–atmosphere configuration of a GCM when it is configured at horizontal grid spacing comparable to the CMIP5 GCMs. While an increase in resolution overcomes many modeling challenges, coarse resolution is not necessarily the primary driver in the exhibition of errors over South Asia. These results highlight the importance of previously less well known pre-monsoon mechanisms that critically influence the strength of SAM in the GCMs and highlight the importance of land–atmosphere interactions in the development and maintenance of SAM.

The drivers of the evolution of the South Asian Monsoon remain widely debated. An intensification of monsoonal rainfall recorded in terrestrial and marine sediment archives from the earliest Miocene (23–20 million years ago (Ma)) is generally attributed to Himalayan uplift. However, Indian Ocean palaeorecords place the onset of a strong monsoon around 13 Ma, linked to strengthening of the southwesterly winds of the Somali Jet that also force Arabian Sea upwelling. Here we reconcile these divergent records using Earth system model simulations to evaluate the interactions between palaeogeography and ocean–atmosphere dynamics. We show that factors forcing the South Asian Monsoon circulation versus rainfall are decoupled and diachronous. Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau topography predominantly controlled early Miocene rainfall patterns, with limited impact on ocean–atmosphere circulation. The uplift of the East African and Middle Eastern topography played a pivotal role in the establishment of the modern Somali Jet structure above the western Indian Ocean, while strong upwelling initiated as a direct consequence of the emergence of the Arabian Peninsula and the onset of modern-like atmospheric circulation. Our results emphasize that although elevated rainfall seasonality was probably a persistent feature since the India–Asia collision in the Paleogene, modern-like monsoonal atmospheric circulation only emerged in the late Neogene. A modern-like South Asian Monsoon only appeared when East African and Middle Eastern uplift led to the establishment of the Somali Jet around 13 million years ago, according to Earth system modelling using a range of regional palaeogeographies.

The arid and semi-arid (ASA) region of Asia occupies a large area in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, of which the main body is the ASA region of Central and East Asia (CEA). In this region, the climate is fragile and the environment is sensitive. The eastern part of the ASA region of CEA is located in the marginal zone of the East Asian monsoon and is jointly influenced by westerly circulation and the monsoon system, while in the western part of the ASA of CEA, the climate is mainly controlled by westerly circulation. To understand and predict the climate over this region, it is necessary to investigate the influence of general circulation on the climate system over the ASA region of CEA. In this paper, recent progress in understanding the relationship between the general circulation and climate change over the ASA region is systematically reviewed. Previous studies have demonstrated that atmospheric circulation represents a significant factor in climate change over the ASA region of CEA. In the years with a strong East Asian summer monsoon, the water vapor flux increases and precipitation is abundant in the southeastern part of Northwest China. The opposite situation occurs in years when the East Asian summer monsoon is weak. With the weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon, the climate tends to dry over the semi-arid region located in the monsoon marginal zone. Recently, owing to the strengthening of the South Asian monsoon, more water vapor has been transported to the ASA region of Asia. The Plateau summer monsoon intensity and the precipitation in summer exhibit a significant positive correlation in Central Asia but a negative correlation in North China and Mongolia. A significant positive correlation also exists between the westerly index and the temperature over the arid region of CEA. The change in the westerly circulation may be the main factor affecting precipitation over the arid region of Central Asia.