Wu et al. (2026) Enhanced Sensitivity of the Asian Water Tower to La Niña in the 21st Century

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

Identification

• Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-11-01
• Authors: Shuoyan Wu, Heyu Sun, Lei Liu, Ping Zhao, Jianfang Fei, Qi Zhang
• DOI: 10.1029/2026gl125445

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Short Summary

This paper investigates the stationarity of the teleconnection between the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Tibetan Plateau rainy-season precipitation. It reveals that the plateau's sensitivity to La Niña has significantly enhanced in the post-2001 epoch, driven by changes in the Western Pacific Subtropical High and monsoon moisture transport.

Objective

• To examine if the teleconnection between the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Tibetan Plateau (TP) rainy-season precipitation has remained stationary over recent decades.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Tibetan Plateau (TP).
• Temporal Scale: Two epochs: pre-2000 (1979–2000) and post-2001 (2001–2023).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly stated in the abstract.
• Data sources: Multi-source data sets (e.g., precipitation, circulation, and moisture-transport composites).

Main Results

• El Niño and La Niña are associated with opposite-signed precipitation responses on the Tibetan Plateau.
• These responses are linked to changes in Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) displacement and monsoon moisture transport.
• In the post-2001 epoch (2001–2023), the sensitivity of the plateau's rainy-season precipitation to La Niña is enhanced.
• La Niña-related wetting and WPSH responses are larger in the post-2001 composites.
• The post-2001 epoch shows a more westward-displaced WPSH and enhanced moisture transport toward the plateau during La Niña events.

Contributions

• Provides evidence for a non-stationary teleconnection between ENSO and Tibetan Plateau rainy-season precipitation.
• Identifies and quantifies the enhanced sensitivity of TP precipitation to La Niña in the post-2001 period.
• Elucidates the atmospheric mechanisms (WPSH displacement and moisture transport) driving the observed changes in ENSO-TP teleconnection.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Wu2026Enhanced,
  author = {Wu, Shuoyan and Sun, Heyu and Liu, Lei and Zhao, Ping and Fei, Jianfang and Zhang, Qi},
  title = {Enhanced Sensitivity of the Asian Water Tower to La Niña in the 21st Century},
  journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026gl125445},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026gl125445}
}