Association between Arctic autumn sea ice concentration and early winter precipitation in China

Associations between autumn Arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) and early winter precipitation in China are studied using singular value decomposition analysis. The results show that a reduced SIC almost everywhere in the Arctic Ocean, except the northern Greenland Sea and Canadian Basin, are accompanied by dry conditions over central China, extending northeast from the Tibetan Plateau toward the Japan Sea, the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, and wet conditions over South China and North China. Atmospheric circulation anomalies associated with SIC variability show two wave-train structures, which are persistent from autumn to winter, leading to the identified relationship between autumn Arctic SIC and early winter precipitation in China. Given that the decline in autumn SIC in the Arctic Ocean is expected to continue as the climate warms, this relationship provides a possible long-term outlook for early winter precipitation in China.