Solar irradiation provides light, heat and energy for driving atmospheric motion on Earth, and is directly affected by solar activities. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicated that solar activities have significant effects on the climate system, but large uncertainties also exist. The related mechanisms, especially how solar activities affect East Asian climate, are still unclear and need further investigation.
Solar irradiation provides light, heat and energy for driving atmospheric motion on Earth, and is directly affected by solar activities. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicated that solar activities have significant effects on the climate system, but large uncertainties also exist. The related mechanisms, especially how solar activities affect East Asian climate, are still unclear and need further investigation.
PhD. student MIAO Jiapeng, Associate Professor WANG Tao, and coauthors, from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, used a four-member ensemble of 600-year simulations and observational data to examine the influence of low-frequency solar forcing on the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). Their results, published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, show that the EAWM is strengthened when total solar irradiance (TSI) increases on the multidecadal time scale. Specifically, the Siberian high and low-level East Asian winter circulation are strengthened, and the surface air temperature in East Asia decreases significantly.
Read more at Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Image: This is a regression of SST anomalies (shaded; units: °C) and 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies (contours; units: m) on solar forcing (units: W m?2). (Credit: Jiapeng MIAO)
