Atmosphere-Land-Ocean Coupled Impacts on Global Monsoons under Climate Change

Monsoon constitutes a critical component of the global weather and climate system, sustaining billions of people worldwide. It is shaped by a complex interplay of Earth system processes, encompassing atmospheric circulation patterns, oceanic feedback mechanisms, and land surface properties. Amidst climate change, monsoon regions have grown increasingly vulnerable, bearing the brunt of more frequent and intense extreme natural disasters. While the individual effects of key monsoon drivers have been extensively explored, the combined and coherent impacts of the coupled air-land-sea system have emerged as the linchpin for advancing monsoon science — an area that demands more focused and dedicated investigation.

This Collection seeks to deepen our understanding of global monsoon dynamics, simulation, and forecasting, as well as the monsoon’s societal impacts, in the context of global warming. Given the disparate responses of land and ocean to rising temperatures, the monsoon — characterized as a large-scale sea-breeze circulation — is undergoing profound changes. Furthermore, the shifting of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) under climate change is widely recognized as a pivotal process linked to monsoon variability, reflecting the momentum and energy constraints that govern interactions between the monsoon and tropical/subtropical atmospheric circulations. Ocean-atmosphere interactions are inherently integral to monsoon behavior; yet, the effects of rising sea surface temperatures (SSTs), strong SST gradients, and enhanced vertical ocean stratification warrant more detailed examination. The land surface, particularly the Tibetan Plateau, represents another critical research focus in monsoon studies, owing to its significant thermal and mechanical modulation of air masses and regional atmospheric circulation.

This Collection welcomes Original Research articles as well as Reviews and Perspectives that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Mechanisms under the framework of air-land-ocean coupling;
• Coherent impacts of various climate modes on the global monsoon;
• Regional and global monsoon changes under global warming;
• Synthetic observations on the monsoon;
• Cutting-edge assimilation, simulation, and forecast systems for the monsoon;
• Monsoon impacts on the carbon cycle and broad biogeochemical environment;
• Application of AI technology in monsoon research.