Comprehensive effects of interdecadal change of sea surface temperature increase in the Indo-Pacific Ocean on the warming-wetting of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

• Published in: Scientific reports 2022-12, Vol.12 (1), p.22306-22306, Article 22306
• Main Authors: Dong, Na, Xu, Xiangde, Cai, Wenyue, Zhao, Tianliang, Sun, Chan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/106; 704/172; Climate change; Global warming; High temperature; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humidity; multidisciplinary; Precipitation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sea surface temperature; Specific humidity; Summer; Water vapor
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26465-8

The correlation characteristics between anomalous changes in summer precipitation on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) and the high-impact areas of global sea-surface temperature (SST) are mainly studied in this paper. The results show that the interdecadal change of the regional “warming-wetting” in China is especially prominent in the northern part of the main body of the QTP, which is therefore identified as the high-value area of precipitation variability. Investigations have revealed that the high-value areas of summer precipitation variability in the northern QTP are significantly correlated with four high-value areas of SST variability, namely the western North Pacific, the western Central Pacific, the Southwest Pacific, and the central Indian Ocean. In these four high-impact areas, a synchronous tendency is found in the SST increase and sea-surface specific humidity. Through the tracking analysis of the correlated vectors of the water vapor source for the warming-wetting of the QTP, it further confirms that the four high-value areas of SST variability in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are the major impact sources of water vapor transport for the warming-wetting of the QTP. Moreover, the comparison of the characteristics of various interdecadal global water vapor transport circulations show that from 1991 to 2020, the trans-equatorial water vapor transport from the Southern Hemisphere witnessed a notable increase, which furthermore suggests that the interdecadal change of SST increase in the Southwest Pacific and central Indian Ocean is the key reason for the warming-wetting of the QTP. In addition, a comprehensive image of high-impact marine water vapor sources for modulating the warming-wetting tendency in the QTP is proposed.