The Possible Role of ENSO in Persistent Pluvial Events over Eastern China during the Last Millennium

Abstract:

The role of the large-scale background in driving the pluvial over eastern China during the last millennium is assessed by using the model data and paleo- proxy records. The Eastern China pluvial events during 1376-1427 and 1547-1549 as existing paleoclimatic archives are shown to be part of a global hydroclimatic regime linked to persistent La Niña–like conditions in the tropical Pacific, while which causes the other two pluvial events of 1725-1770 and 1816-1856 is not clear. The model could not produce these pluvials over eastern China during the last millennium except the events occurred in the 18^th century. The AOGCM simulations of climate for the first two events are shown to reproduce many aspects of hydroclimate found in paleo‐proxy records for much of the Eastern Hemisphere, northern Eurasia, with the noticeable exception of North and South America, which both strongly linked to ENSO. These results suggest that many features of global hydroclimate changes during these periods could be explained by changes in the tropical interdecadal variability centered over the central and eastern Pacific.