Interannual Variability of the Convective Activities Associated with the East Asian Summer Monsoon Obtained from TBB Variability

In this paper, the interannual variability of the convective activities associated with the East Asian summer monsoon and its association with the thermal distribution of SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific are analyzed by using the daily TBB (Temperature of Black Body at Cloud Top) dataset from 1980 to 1991. The results of composite and individual analyses of TBB anomalies show that the interannual variability of the convective activities associated with the summer monsoon in East Asia is large and has a close relation to the thermal distribution of SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific, espec?ially in the western Pacific warm pool. In the summer with ENSO-like distribution of SST anoma?lies in the tropical Pacific, the convective activities are weak around the Philippines, then the convective activities are intensified and the summer monsoon rainfall is strong in the area from the Yangtze River basin and the Huaihe River basin in China to Republic of Korea and Japan. On the contrary, in the summer with anti-ENSO-like distribution of SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific, the convective activities are strong around the Philippines, then the convective activities are weakened and the summer monsoon rainfall is weak in the area from the Yangtze River basin and the Huaihe River basin to Republic of Korea and Japan. It may be also found either from the composite analysis or from the individual analysis of TBB anomalies that the convective activities associated with the summer monsoon in East Asia have a good negative relation to that around the Philippines and a positive relation to that over the equatorial central Pacific.