Using Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data and numerical simulations, the impacts of the multi-scale sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Pacific on the boreal winter atmospheric circulations are investigated. The basin-scale SST anomaly as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) pattern, a narrow meridional band of frontal-scale smoothed SST anomaly in the subtropical front zone (STFZ) and the spatial dispersed eddy-scale SST anomalies within the STFZ are the three types of forcings. The results of Liang-Kleeman information flow method find that all three oceanic forcings may correspond to the winter North Pacific jet changing with the similar pattern. Furthermore, several simulations are used to reveal the differences and detail processes of the three forcings. The basin-scale cold PDO-pattern SST anomaly first causes negative turbulent heat flux anomalies, atmospheric cooling, and wind deceleration in the lower atmosphere. Subsequently, the cooling temperature with an amplified southern lower temperature gradient and baroclinity brings a lagging middle warming because of the enhanced atmospheric eddy heat transport. The poleward and upward development of baroclinic fluctuations eventually causes the acceleration of the upper jet. The smoothed frontal- and eddy-scale SST anomalies in the STFZ cause comparable anomalous jet as the basin-scale by changing the upward baroclinic energy and E-P fluxes. The forcing effects of multi-scale SST anomalies coexist simultaneously in the mid-latitude North Pacific, which can cause similar anomalous upper atmospheric circulations. This is probably why it is tricky to define the certain oceanic forcing that leads to specific atmospheric circulation variation in observations

The wintertime Kuroshio sea surface temperature (SST) front have the significant climate effects on southern China. The study demonstrates a close relationship between heavy precipitation over Southern China and Kuroshio SST front in winter. More than half winter heavy rainfall events in Southern China are proved to be resulted from strong High-frequency Variability events of the sea surface Wind Coupled with Precipitation (HV-WCP) over Kuroshio SST front. One day before strong HV-WCP events, the initial precipitation appears over Middle-lower Yangtze River due to the significantly enhanced frontal intensity. Then the precipitation generates low level cyclone and southeasterly wind anomalies, after it moving into Kuroshio front area because of the winter monsoon. The significant marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) height gradient over Kuroshio leads to plentiful moisture transporting from MABL into free atmosphere and enhances the local precipitation again. This process further causes the large-scale stratus rainband extending to Southern China and enhancing the heavy rainfall locally. Especially in 2008 winter, several processes of a strong HV-WCP event followed by continuous weak ones are conducive to the low-temperature-precipitation disaster in Southern China

By using datasets of HadISST monthly SST from 1895 to 2014 and 600-year simulations of two CESM model experiments with/without doubling of CO2 concentration, ENSO characteristics are compared pre- and post- global warming. The main results are as follows. Due to global warming, the maximum climatological SST warming occurs in the tropical western Pacific (La Niña-like background warming) and the tropical eastern Pacific (El Niño-like background warming) for observations and model, respectively, resulting in opposite zonal SST gradient anomalies in the tropical Pacific. The La Niña-like background warming induces intense surface divergence in the tropical central Pacific, which enhances the easterly trade winds in the tropical central-western Pacific and shifts the strongest ocean-atmosphere coupling westward, correspondingly. On the contrary, the El Niño-like background warming causes westerly winds in the whole tropical Pacific and moves the strongest ocean-atmosphere coupling eastward. Under the La Niña-like background warming, ENSO tends to develop and mature in the tropical central Pacific, because the background easterly wind anomaly weakens the ENSO-induced westerly wind anomaly in the tropical western Pacific, leading to the so-called "Central Pacific ENSO (CP ENSO)". However, the so-called "Eastern Pacific ENSO (EP ENSO)" is likely formed due to increased westerly wind anomaly by the El Niño-like background warming. ENSO lifetime is significantly extended under both the El Niño-like and the La Niña-like background warmings, and especially, it can be prolonged by up to 3 months in the situation of El Niño-like background warming. The prolonged El Nino lifetime mainly applies to extreme El Niño events, which is caused by earlier outbreak of the westerly wind bursts, shallower climatological thermocline depth and weaker "discharge" rate of the ENSO warm signal in response to global warming. Results from both observations and the model also show that the frequency of ENSO events greatly increases due to global warming, and many more extreme El Niño and La Niña events appear under the El Niño-like and the La Niña-like background warmings, respectively. This study reconciles the phenomena and mechanisms of different characteristics of ENSO changes in observations and models.

With datasets of Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) NOAH land surface model, GPCC monthly mean rainfall and NCAR/NCEP global monthly mean reanalysis from 1948 to 2010, by using methods of filtering, composite and linear regression and correlation, characteristics of Eurasian snow depth anomalies in El Niño mature winter, its influences on soil moisture after snow melting, and finally on East Asian summer monsoon are investigated, and the main conclusions are as follows: In El Niño mature winter, snow depth in regions of the Iranian Plateau, the northeast of Lake Balkhash and the southern Tibetan Plateau increase remarkably, so are the related snow melting and soil moisture. The above-mentioned three regions are identified as the key regions for snow depth to store and extend the El Niño signals. In spring, the snow begins to melt, and the soil moisture increases correspondingly, thus the El Niño signals are transmitted from winter snow depth to soil moisture in spring. As a result, sensible heat flux decreases and latent heat flux increases, and the atmospheric circulations are greatly influenced. The anomalous soil moisture in the Iranian plateau is most important for the East Asian summer monsoon in El Niño decaying summer, since it has similar impact pattern on the anomalous summer precipitation as the El Niño composite. The spring and summer soil moisture in both the southern Tibetan plateau and the northeast of Lake Balkhash increase simultaneously, which significantly contribute to the increased precipitation in North China. Therefore, to investigate and predict the East Asian summer monsoon variabilities by using El Niño signal, the roles of snow depth in storing and modulating El Niño impacts in those key regions should be considered.

The intensity and position of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) have crucial effects on climate and disaster events in East Asia during summer. The WPSH significant northward jump (SNJ) events are the main manifestation of the seasonal evolution of WPSH, which are important for the precipitation over East Asia. Using the daily reanalysis datasets from year 1979 to 2020, this study further defines the early and late SNJ events of WPSH on the interannual timescale, which are connected separately with the tropical, mid-latitude subseasonal signals and the local air-sea interaction. However, the mechanisms of the WPSH-SNJ events are different in the anomalous early and late years. In the early SNJ years, the subseasonal signals from the mid-level East Asia-Pacific teleconnection pattern or the low-level boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation cause the positive 500 hPa geopotential height anomalies, which contribute to the significant WPSH northward jump in the first pentad of July. However, the above factors are unable to cause the WPSH-SNJ in the late years. Until the second pentad of August, the collaborative effects between mid-high latitudes wave trains over high levels and cold SST anomalies in the core region lead to the barotropic geopotential height anomalies and the lagged northward jump of WPSH