Anthropogenic Forcing Amplifies Concurrent Risk of Pluvial Pakistan–Hot Yangtze

Abstract During July–August 2022, Pakistan (PKT) experienced catastrophic flooding while the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) endured unprecedented heatwaves. While previous studies have examined the physical teleconnections, there remains a critical gap in quantifying the role of anthropogenic forcing in shaping such trans‐regional concurrent extremes. Here, we bridge this gap by combining probabilistic and storyline attribution frameworks to assess both historical and future risks of 2022‐like events. We find that the 2022 event represents a warming‐amplified analogue of the 2010 event, driven by a westward extension of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) and an eastward shift of the South Asian High (SAH). Moisture and heat budget diagnosis reveal that dynamically horizontal moisture transport dominated the 2022 PKT precipitation, while surface cloud‐radiative forcing drove the YRB heatwave. Using complex network analysis, we uncover intensified cross‐regional linkages under SSP2‐4.5, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP5‐8.5 scenarios. Crucially, our bivariate probabilistic attribution indicates that anthropogenic forcing accounts for nearly 100% of the likelihood of the 2022 event. Projections show that, by 2071–2100, the probability of such events could rise by 57–326 times, relative to a baseline probability of 0.0015 in historical simulations. Further, storyline attribution demonstrates that anthropogenic thermodynamics and circulation dynamics contributed approximately 60% and 40% to the 2022 event, with nearly half of the dynamic effect attributable to anthropogenic forcing. These results offer a quantitative perspective on the rising risk of concurrent Pluvial Pakistan–Hot Yangtze events under climate change, offering valuable insights for regional climate resilience and adaptation planning.

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Publication Details

Journal
Water Resources Research
Published
2026-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr041185
Primary Topic
Climate variability and models
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Anthropogenic Forcing Amplifies Concurrent Risk of Pluvial Pakistan–Hot Yangtze

Lina Liu, Lixiang Zhao, Zhenyu Tang, Jun Xia et al.
Water Resources Research
Climate variability and models
article

Anthropogenic Forcing Amplifies Concurrent Risk of Pluvial Pakistan–Hot Yangtze

Lina Liu, Lixiang Zhao, Zhenyu Tang, Jun Xia, Gangsheng Wang, Chen Hu, Xiaodong Li, Xiao Li
article en

Abstract

Abstract During July–August 2022, Pakistan (PKT) experienced catastrophic flooding while the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) endured unprecedented heatwaves. While previous studies have examined the physical teleconnections, there remains a critical gap in quantifying the role of anthropogenic forcing in shaping such trans‐regional concurrent extremes. Here, we bridge this gap by combining probabilistic and storyline attribution frameworks to assess both historical and future risks of 2022‐like events. We find that the 2022 event represents a warming‐amplified analogue of the 2010 event, driven by a westward extension of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) and an eastward shift of the South Asian High (SAH). Moisture and heat budget diagnosis reveal that dynamically horizontal moisture transport dominated the 2022 PKT precipitation, while surface cloud‐radiative forcing drove the YRB heatwave. Using complex network analysis, we uncover intensified cross‐regional linkages under SSP2‐4.5, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP5‐8.5 scenarios. Crucially, our bivariate probabilistic attribution indicates that anthropogenic forcing accounts for nearly 100% of the likelihood of the 2022 event. Projections show that, by 2071–2100, the probability of such events could rise by 57–326 times, relative to a baseline probability of 0.0015 in historical simulations. Further, storyline attribution demonstrates that anthropogenic thermodynamics and circulation dynamics contributed approximately 60% and 40% to the 2022 event, with nearly half of the dynamic effect attributable to anthropogenic forcing. These results offer a quantitative perspective on the rising risk of concurrent Pluvial Pakistan–Hot Yangtze events under climate change, offering valuable insights for regional climate resilience and adaptation planning.

Water Resources ResearchVol. 62(4)
Wuhan University (CN), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN), Nano Carbon (Poland) (PL)
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 26%
Climate variability and models
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