Relationship Between the El Nino and Precipitation Patterns in China Since 1500 AD

Based on the historical El Nino records and the yearly dryness/wetness grade data in China during the 1500—1990 A. D., the composite dryness/wetness grade charts of El Nino year, and the first non-El Nino year after ending the El Nino event for 101 cases have been done, respectively. They show the deficient rain areas are distributed in the regions of Inner Mongolia—Gansu Provinces and the Lower-Middle Changjiang River, and the plentiful rain areas in Northeast China, Huang-Huai River region and Guangdong coastal area for the El Nino years. In the first non-El Nino year after ending the El Nino event, the precipitation pattern is almost opposite to that in the onset year. For the total 9 cases occurred in the 1951—1990, the distribution of plentiful rain areas and deficient rain area appears to be similar to that on the composite charts of 101 cases for the last 490 years, whether in the onset year or in the first non-El Nino year. Furthermore, the composite charts for each century show that some main features are still similar to that for 490 years. So, the common distributive features mentioned above appeared in the past 490 years, 40 years and each century can be considered as the typical precipitation pattern correlated with the El Nino events in the eastern China.