Wang et al. (2025) Recent accelerated drying in southwest China dominated by anthropogenic aerosol forcing

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-29
• Authors: Leying Wang, Shangfeng Chen, Wen Chen, Qingyu Cai, Tianjiao Ma, Yuqiong Zheng, Linye Song
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae318e

Research Groups

Not specified in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigates the drivers of the recent drying trend in Southwest China, revealing that anthropogenic aerosol forcing, particularly from European reductions and Chinese increases, is the dominant factor, accounting for 77% of the total forcing.

Objective

• To determine the relative contributions of human activities (specifically anthropogenic aerosol forcing) and internal climate variability to the recent accelerated drying trend in Southwest China and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Southwest China (SWC)
• Temporal Scale: Recent decades

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Multi-model ensemble simulations (specific models not detailed in abstract)
• Data sources: Not specified in the abstract (implied by detection and attribution analysis)

Main Results

• Anthropogenic aerosol forcing is identified as the dominant driver of the recent accelerated drying in Southwest China.
• Aerosol forcing accounts for 77% (with a one standard deviation range of 46% to 107%) of the total forcing contributing to the drying trend.
• A reduction in aerosol emissions in Europe triggers an atmospheric wave train, leading to a cyclonic anomaly in the upper troposphere over SWC, which suppresses upward motion and reduces precipitation.
• Concurrently, an increase in aerosols over China causes local cooling and anomalous downward motion, creating conditions conducive to drought.

Contributions

• Provides quantitative attribution of the recent drying trend in Southwest China to anthropogenic aerosol forcing, distinguishing its dominant role over internal climate variability.
• Elucidates the specific atmospheric mechanisms through which both European aerosol reductions and Chinese aerosol increases contribute to the drying in SWC.
• Highlights the substantial and far-reaching influence of regional anthropogenic aerosol emissions on climate change.

Funding

Not specified in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Wang2025Recent,
  author = {Wang, Leying and Chen, Shangfeng and Chen, Wen and Cai, Qingyu and Ma, Tianjiao and Zheng, Yuqiong and Song, Linye},
  title = {Recent accelerated drying in southwest China dominated by anthropogenic aerosol forcing},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae318e},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae318e}
}