Identifying the northernmost summer monsoon location in East Asia

An integrated index which can be used to indicate the advance of subtropical summer monsoon in East Asia has been proposed in this paper. The index was combined by three variables including precipitation, wind and pseudo-equivalent potential temperature. The northernmost summer monsoon location (NSML) was identified by using this index annually. It was found that the NSML experienced an interdecadal shift in the period 1977-1979 based on the annual index analysis from 1961 to 2001. A comparison of the NSML with other four summer monsoon indices has also been made. The result showed that the NSML could well represent the interannual and interdecadal variability of summer monsoon precipitation in North China (beyond 35 degrees N), while other four indices could well indicate the precipitation anomalies of East Asian summer monsoon along the Yangtze River valley (around 30 degrees N).