Characteristic Analysis of India–Burma Trough Events and Its Impact on Winter Precipitation in South and East Asia: Based on Objective Identification

Abstract During the boreal winter, the India–Burma trough (IBT), a shortwave trough system primarily positioned over the northern Bay of Bengal, exerts a significant synoptic-scale variation and impact on precipitation in South and East Asia. This study utilizes the 6-hourly ERA5 dataset to objectively identify and track 714 IBT events from 1981 to 2019. On average, IBT occurred about 54.7 days yr −1 , with an average of 18.3 events annually and lasting around 2.5 days. IBT events are classified into two types: local and eastward moving. Local IBTs manifest in the mid- and lower troposphere with a vertical temperature structure of warm-over-cold, whereas the signals of the eastward-moving IBTs extend from the lower to the upper troposphere, exhibiting cold anomalies vertically. The impacts on winter precipitation in South and East Asia differ significantly between these two IBT types. Local IBTs are primarily linked with the eastward propagation of wave disturbances along the subtropical westerly jet, while eastward-moving IBTs are associated with robust disturbance sources from mid–high latitudes and jointly modulated by the consequent eastward propagation of Rossby wave trains along northern and southern branches of the westerly jet streams. Precipitation anomalies during local IBTs are typically positive (negative) in the Indochina Peninsula and southwestern China (Indian Peninsula), whereas eastward-moving IBTs correlate with more intense and widespread precipitation in South and East Asia, with a pronounced band of anomalies from the Indochina Peninsula to southern China.