Yu et al. (2026) Rossby wave-modulated orbital precipitation anomalies in the Asia-Pacific region

Identification

• Journal: Nature Communications
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-06-16
• Authors: Zhaojie Yu, Lina Song, Zhimin Jian, Mahyar Mohtadi, Yair Rosenthal, Kyung‐Sook Yun, Xiaojie Tang, Lei Zhang, Yuanlong Li, Mingmei Xie, Peng Hu, Zehua Song, F BASSINOT, Christophe Colin, Shiming Wan
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-74368-3

Research Groups

• Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS)
• Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center
• State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University
• MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
• Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University
• Center for Climate Physics, Institute for Basic Science (South Korea)
• Pusan National University
• Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, GEOPS
• State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS
• Frontier Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China
• Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Yunnan University
• LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay

Short Summary

The study identifies a banded precipitation anomaly across the Asia-Pacific region driven by planetary Rossby waves excited by seasonal deep convection over the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP) under orbital precessional forcing.

Objective

• To investigate the dynamical mechanisms by which orbital-scale variations of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP) influence hydroclimate variability across the Asia-Pacific region, specifically from the tropics to mid- and high-latitudes.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional to Global (Asia-Pacific region, extending from the tropical IPWP to mid- and high-latitudes).
• Temporal Scale: Orbital timescales (specifically precessional forcing).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Transient simulations.
• Data sources: Sedimentary proxies and simulation data.

Main Results

• Identified a coherent, banded precipitation anomaly across the Asia-Pacific region that cannot be explained by regional dynamics alone.
• Demonstrated that seasonal deep convection over the IPWP excites planetary Rossby waves.
• Found that precessional forcing modulates both the integrated effects of these Rossby waves and the large-scale atmospheric background state.
• Established that Rossby-wave-related responses extend poleward, reorganizing large-scale moisture transport and precipitation in mid- and high-latitudes.

Contributions

• Provides a physically consistent dynamical linkage between low-latitude orbital forcing and extratropical hydroclimate variability via planetary-wave dynamics.
• Explains how tropical convection imprints hydroclimate patterns across Pan-Asia on orbital timescales.

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (42125602, 42176034, 42376055, and W2421051)
• Independent Deployment Project of IOCAS (IOCASZZQN008 and IOCASZZPT003)
• International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (058GJHZ2025018FN)
• National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF0800503)
• Taishan Scholars Program (tsqn202507275)

Citation

@article{Yu2026Rossby,
  author = {Yu, Zhaojie and Song, Lina and Jian, Zhimin and Mohtadi, Mahyar and Rosenthal, Yair and Yun, Kyung‐Sook and Tang, Xiaojie and Zhang, Lei and Li, Yuanlong and Xie, Mingmei and Hu, Peng and Song, Zehua and BASSINOT, F and Colin, Christophe and Wan, Shiming},
  title = {Rossby wave-modulated orbital precipitation anomalies in the Asia-Pacific region},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-74368-3},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74368-3}
}