Qi, Q.; Cai, R., and Yan, X., 2017. Early influence of heat transport of the Kuroshio at the source area on summer precipitation over Eastern China. In: Zhi, Y. and Guido Aldana, P.A. (eds.), Sustainability of Water Resources and the Development of Coastal Environments: Select Proceedings from the 2016 International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2016). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 80, pp. 13–17. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

The regional water resource of eastern China is modulated greatly by the change of summer rainfall, which is closely associated with the thermal state of adjacent seas. This study focused on the variation of the heat volume transported to the East China Sea (ECS) by the Kuroshio at its source area in spring, and investigated the possible effect of the Kuroshio heat transport (KHT) on the anomalous change of summer rainfall over eastern China. In the past 50 years, the KHT anomalies in spring presented distinct variations superimposed by significant quasi 2a and about 16a low-frequency oscillations. The variations of the KHT (enhancing) at the source area in spring can influence the sea surface temperature (lead to warming) in the ECS, which was in favor of inducing the atmosphere circulation anomalies (southwest wind anomaly) in South China with the subsequent convergence of water vapor over the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and finally tended to result in the variations (increase) of summer rainfall there. The analysis suggested that, as one of key factors modulating the thermal state of Chinese adjacent seas, the anomalous strengthening of the KHT in preceding period may be one of the major causes of the excessive summer rainfall over the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and visa versa, which is expected to directly influence local water resource and even the management.