Potential modulation of Indian Ocean basin mode on the interdecadal variations of summer precipitation over the East Asian monsoon boundary zone.

Based on long-term observational and reanalysis datasets from 1901 through 2014, this study investigates the characteristics and physical causes of the interdecadal variations in the summer precipitation over the East Asian monsoon boundary zone (EAMBZ). Observational evidence reveals that the EAMBZ precipitation featured prominent interdecadal fluctuations, e.g., with dry summers during the periods preceding 1927, 1968–1982, and 1998–2010, and wet summers during the periods of 1928–1938, 1946–1967, and 2011 onwards. Further analyses identify that the Indian Ocean basin mode (IOBM) is an important oceanic modulator responsible for the interdecadal variations of the EAMBZ precipitation. When the cold phase of the IOBM occurs, an anomalous cyclonic circulation is excited around the northeast corner of the tropical Indian Ocean, which further induces a "north-low–south-high" meridional seesaw pattern over the Northeast China–subtropical western Pacific (SWP) sector. Such seesaw pattern is conducive to the enhanced EAMBZ precipitation through linking favorable environments for the transportation of water vapor from the SWP and the convergence over EAMBZ at interdecadal timescales. For this reason, a physical-empirical model for the EAMBZ precipitation is developed in terms of the IOBM cooling, which can well capture its interdecadal fluctuations and reflect their steady relationship. The key physical pathway connecting the IOBM cooling with the interdecadal variations of the summer EAMBZ precipitation is supported by the numerical results based on the large ensemble experiment and the Indian Ocean pacemaker experiment. Our findings may provide new insights into the understanding of the causes of the interdecadal variations in the summer EAMBZ precipitation, which may favor the long-term policy decision making for the local hydrometeorological planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]