Distinct impacts of the Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus on the evolution of the East Asian monsoon

The Mongolian Plateau (MP), which is relatively lower in altitude and smaller in extent than the Tibetan Plateau (TP), has received little attention about its climate effect. Building upon previous work in which we highlighted the role of the MP on the high-level westerly jet stream, the response of surface-level features of the Asian climate is examined in this study. The results show that the Indian and East Asian summer monsoonal and inland precipitation are mainly enhanced by the uplift of the TP. The precipitation during the onset of the summer monsoon is also intensified over India and eastern China. In addition, the East Asian monsoon domain is significantly expanded with the uplift of the TP, while the Indian summer monsoon domain does not change obviously. The MP plays a significant role in the strengthening of the East Asian winter monsoon, which is larger than the TP. With the uplift of the MP, the cold northerly wind in winter intensifies significantly in East Asia from higher latitudes to the South China Sea. The Siberian high is also enhanced and moves remarkably northward to its modern location. The strengthening of the Asian winter monsoon is related to the MP-induced diversion of westerly wind. The bypassing flows around the plateau modify the temperature advections over middle latitudes and the atmosphere thermal structure in winter, which leads to the strengthening of the East Asian winter monsoon.