Geography
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Summer precipitation in Hawai'i accounts for 40% of the annual total and provides important water sources. However, our knowledge about its variability remains limited. Here we show that statewide Hawai'i summer rainfall (HSR) variability exhibits two distinct regimes: quasi-biennial (QB, ~2 years) and interdecadal (~30–40 years). The QB variation is linked to alternating occurrences of the Western North Pacific (WNP) cyclone and anticyclone in successive years, which is modulated by the intrinsic El Niño–Southern Oscillation biennial variability and involves a positive feedback between atmospheric Rossby waves and underlying sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. The interdecadal variation of HSR is largely modulated by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation through affecting upstream low-level humidity that affects topographic rainfall. HSR shows weak long-term drying trend during 1920–2019. This first description of the major physical drivers of summer rainfall variability provides key information for seasonal rainfall prediction in Hawai'i.
Publication Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Publication Date
12-16-2020
Volume
47
Issue
23
ISSN
0094-8276
DOI
10.1029/2020GL091260
Keywords
ENSO, Hawai'i rainfall variability, Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, rainfall trend, western North Pacific high
Repository Citation
Luo, Xiao; Wang, Bin; Frazier, Abby G.; and Giambelluca, Thomas W., "Distinguishing Variability Regimes of Hawaiian Summer Rainfall: Quasi-Biennial and Interdecadal Oscillations" (2020). Geography. 8.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Luo, Xiao, et al. "Distinguishing variability regimes of Hawaiian summer rainfall: Quasi‐Biennial and interdecadal oscillations." Geophysical Research Letters 47.23 (2020): e2020GL091260.