Browsing by Author "Li, W"

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Open Access
Changes to the North Atlantic subtropical high and its role in the intensification of summer rainfall variability in the southeastern United States
(Journal of Climate, 2011-03-01) Li, W; Li, L; Fu, R; Deng, Y; Wang, H
This study investigates the changes of the North Atlantic subtropical high (NASH) and its impact on summer precipitation over the southeastern (SE) United States using the 850-hPa geopotential height field in the National Centers forEnvironmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, the 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-40), long-term rainfall data, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) model simulations during the past six decades (1948-2007). The results show that the NASH in the last 30 yr has become more intense, and its western ridge has displaced westward with an enhanced meridional movement compared to the previous 30 yr. When the NASH moved closer to the continental United States in the three most recent decades, the effect of the NASH on the interannual variation of SE U.S. precipitation is enhanced through the ridge's north-south movement. The study's attribution analysis suggested that the changes of the NASH are mainly due to anthropogenic warming. In the twenty-first century with an increase of the atmospheric CO2 concentration, the center of the NASH would be intensified and the western ridge of the NASH would shift farther westward. These changes would increase the likelihood of both strong anomalously wet and dry summers over the SEUnited States in the future, as suggested by the IPCC AR4 models. © 2011 American Meteorological Society.
Open Access
CMIP5 climate model analyses: Climate extremes in the United States
(Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2014-01-01) Wuebbles, D; Meehl, G; Hayhoe, K; Karl, TR; Kunkel, K; Santer, B; Wehner, M; Colle, B; Fischer, EM; Fu, R; Goodman, A; Janssen, E; Lee, H; Li, W; Long, LN; Olsen, S; Sheffield, J; Sun, L
Given the increases in spatial resolution and other improvements in climate modeling capabilities over the last decade since the CMIP3 simulations were completed, CMIP5 provides a unique opportunity to assess scientific understanding of climate variability and change over a range of historical and future conditions. With participation from over 20 modeling groups and more than 40 global models, CMIP5 represents the latest and most ambitious coordinated international climate model intercomparison exercise to date. Observations dating back to 1900 show that the temperatures in the twenty-first century have the largest spatial extent of record breaking and much above normal mean monthly maximum and minimum temperatures. The 20-yr return value of the annual maximum or minimum daily temperature is one measure of changes in rare temperature extremes.
Open Access
CMIP5 model simulations of Ethiopian Kiremt-season precipitation: current climate and future changes
(Climate Dynamics, 2016-05-01) Li, Laifang; Li, W; Ballard, Tristan; Ge Sun; Jeuland, Marc
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.Kiremt-season (June–September) precipitation provides a significant water supply for Ethiopia, particularly in the central and northern regions. The response of Kiremt-season precipitation to climate change is thus of great concern to water resource managers. However, the complex processes that control Kiremt-season precipitation challenge the capability of general circulation models (GCMs) to accurately simulate precipitation amount and variability. This in turn raises questions about their utility for predicting future changes. This study assesses the impact of climate change on Kiremt-season precipitation using state-of-the-art GCMs participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5. Compared to models with a coarse resolution, high-resolution models (horizontal resolution <2°) can more accurately simulate precipitation, most likely due to their ability to capture precipitation induced by topography. Under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 scenario, these high-resolution models project an increase in precipitation over central Highlands and northern Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia, but a decrease in precipitation over the southern part of the country. Such a dipole pattern is attributable to the intensification of the North Atlantic subtropical high (NASH) in a warmer climate, which influences Ethiopian Kiremt-season precipitation mainly by modulating atmospheric vertical motion. Diagnosis of the omega equation demonstrates that an intensified NASH increases (decreases) the advection of warm air and positive vorticity into the central Highlands and northern Great Rift Valley (southern part of the country), enhancing upward motion over the northern Rift Valley but decreasing elsewhere. Under the RCP 4.5 scenario, the high-resolution models project an intensification of the NASH by 15 (3 × 105 m2 s−2) geopotential meters (stream function) at the 850-hPa level, contributing to the projected precipitation change over Ethiopia. The influence of the NASH on Kiremt-season precipitation becomes more evident in the future due to the offsetting effects of two other major circulation systems: the East African Low-level Jet (EALLJ) and the Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ). The high-resolution models project a strengthening of the EALLJ, but a weakening of the TEJ. Future changes in the EALLJ and TEJ will drive this precipitation system in opposite directions, leading to small or no net changes in precipitation in Ethiopia.
Open Access
Contribution of the North Atlantic subtropical high to regional climate model (RCM) skill in simulating southeastern United States summer precipitation
(Climate Dynamics, 2015-07-26) Li, L; Li, W; Jin, J
© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.This study assesses the skill of advanced regional climate models (RCMs) in simulating southeastern United States (SE US) summer precipitation and explores the physical mechanisms responsible for the simulation skill at a process level. Analysis of the RCM output for the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program indicates that the RCM simulations of summer precipitation show the largest biases and a remarkable spread over the SE US compared to other regions in the contiguous US. The causes of such a spread are investigated by performing simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, a next-generation RCM developed by the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. The results show that the simulated biases in SE US summer precipitation are due mainly to the misrepresentation of the modeled North Atlantic subtropical high (NASH) western ridge. In the WRF simulations, the NASH western ridge shifts 7° northwestward when compared to that in the reanalysis ensemble, leading to a dry bias in the simulated summer precipitation according to the relationship between the NASH western ridge and summer precipitation over the southeast. Experiments utilizing the four dimensional data assimilation technique further suggest that the improved representation of the circulation patterns (i.e., wind fields) associated with the NASH western ridge substantially reduces the bias in the simulated SE US summer precipitation. Our analysis of circulation dynamics indicates that the NASH western ridge in the WRF simulations is significantly influenced by the simulated planetary boundary layer (PBL) processes over the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, a decrease (increase) in the simulated PBL height tends to stabilize (destabilize) the lower troposphere over the Gulf of Mexico, and thus inhibits (favors) the onset and/or development of convection. Such changes in tropical convection induce a tropical–extratropical teleconnection pattern, which modulates the circulation along the NASH western ridge in the WRF simulations and contributes to the modeled precipitation biases over the SE US. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that the NASH western ridge is an important factor responsible for the RCM skill in simulating SE US summer precipitation. Furthermore, the improvements in the PBL parameterizations for the Gulf of Mexico might help advance RCM skill in representing the NASH western ridge circulation and summer precipitation over the SE US.
Open Access
Correction to: AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study (Scientific Reports, (2024), 14, 1, (7526), 10.1038/s41598-024-54655-z)
(Scientific Reports, 2024-12-01) Giles, E; Heifets, A; Artía, Z; Inde, Z; Liu, Z; Zhang, Z; Wang, Z; Su, Z; Chung, Z; Frangos, ZJ; Li, Y; Yen, Y; Sidorova, YA; Tse-Dinh, YC; He, Y; Tang, Y; Li, Y; Pérez-Pertejo, Y; Gupta, YK; Zhu, Y; Sun, Y; Li, Y; Chen, Y; Aldhamen, YA; Hu, Y; Zhang, YJ; Zhang, X; Yuan, X; Wang, X; Qin, X; Yu, X; Xu, X; Qi, X; Lu, X; Wu, X; Blanchet, X; Foong, WE; Bradshaw, WJ; Gerwick, WH; Kerr, WG; Hahn, WC; Donaldson, WA; Van Voorhis, WC; Zhang, W; Tang, W; Li, W; Houry, WA; Lowther, WT; Clayton, WB; Van Hung Le, V; Ronchi, VP; Woods, VA; Scoffone, VC; Maltarollo, VG; Dolce, V; Maranda, V; Segers, VFM; Namasivayam, V; Gunasekharan, V; Robinson, VL; Banerji, V; Tandon, V; Thai, VC; Pai, VP; Desai, UR; Baumann, U; Chou, TF; Chou, T; O’Mara, TA; Banjo, T; Su, T; Lan, T; Ogunwa, TH; Hermle, T; Corson, TW; O’Meara, TR; Kotzé, TJ; Herdendorf, TJ; Richardson, TI; Kampourakis, T; Gillingwater, TH; Jayasinghe, TD; Teixeira, TR; Ikegami, T; Moreda, TL; Haikarainen, T; Akopian, T; Abaffy, T; Swart, T; Mehlman, T; Teramoto, T; Azeem, SM; Dallman, S; Brady-Kalnay, SM; Sarilla, S; Van Doren, SR; Marx, SO; Olson, SH; Poirier, S; Waggoner, SN
Correction to: Scientific Reportshttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54655-z, published online 02 April 2024 The original version of this Article contained errors. In the original version of this article, Ellie Giles was omitted from the Author list. Additionally, the following Affiliation information has been updated: 1. Affiliation 25 was incorrect. Affiliation 25 ‘Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, USA.’ now reads, ‘Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.’ 2. Marta Giorgis was incorrectly affiliated with the ‘University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.’ The correct Affiliation is listed below: ‘University of Turin, Turin, Italy.’ 3. Affiliations 52, 125 and 261 were duplicated. As a result, the correct Affiliation for Andrew B. Herr, Benjamin Liou, David A. Hildeman, Joseph J. Maciag, Ying Sun, Durga Krishnamurthy, and Stephen N. Waggoner is: ‘Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, USA.’ Furthermore, an outdated version of Figure 1 was typeset. The original Figure 1 and accompanying legend appear below. (Figure presented.) Pairs of representative compounds extracted from AI patents (right) and corresponding prior patents (left) for clinical-stage programs (CDK792,93, A2Ar-antagonist94,95, MALT196,97, QPCTL98,99, USP1100,101, and 3CLpro102,103). The identical atoms between the chemical structures are highlighted in red. Lastly, The Acknowledgements section contained an error. “See Supplementary section S1.” now reads, “See Supplementary section S2.” The original Article has been corrected.
Open Access
Dynamical and thermodynamical coupling between the North Atlantic subtropical high and the marine boundary layer clouds in boreal summer
(Climate Dynamics, 2017-06-10) Wei, W; Li, W; Deng, Y; Yang, S; Jiang, JH; Huang, L; Liu, WT
Open Access
Emergence and pathogenicity of highly virulent Cryptococcus gattii genotypes in the northwest United States.
(PLoS Pathog, 2010-04-22) Byrnes 3rd, EJ; Li, W; Lewit, Y; Ma, H; Voelz, K; Ren, P; Carter, DA; Chaturvedi, V; Bildfell, RJ; May, RC; Heitman, J
Cryptococcus gattii causes life-threatening disease in otherwise healthy hosts and to a lesser extent in immunocompromised hosts. The highest incidence for this disease is on Vancouver Island, Canada, where an outbreak is expanding into neighboring regions including mainland British Columbia and the United States. This outbreak is caused predominantly by C. gattii molecular type VGII, specifically VGIIa/major. In addition, a novel genotype, VGIIc, has emerged in Oregon and is now a major source of illness in the region. Through molecular epidemiology and population analysis of MLST and VNTR markers, we show that the VGIIc group is clonal and hypothesize it arose recently. The VGIIa/IIc outbreak lineages are sexually fertile and studies support ongoing recombination in the global VGII population. This illustrates two hallmarks of emerging outbreaks: high clonality and the emergence of novel genotypes via recombination. In macrophage and murine infections, the novel VGIIc genotype and VGIIa/major isolates from the United States are highly virulent compared to similar non-outbreak VGIIa/major-related isolates. Combined MLST-VNTR analysis distinguishes clonal expansion of the VGIIa/major outbreak genotype from related but distinguishable less-virulent genotypes isolated from other geographic regions. Our evidence documents emerging hypervirulent genotypes in the United States that may expand further and provides insight into the possible molecular and geographic origins of the outbreak.
Open Access
Erratum: A power-efficient switched-capacitor stimulating system for electrical/optical deep-brain stimulation (IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (2015) 50:1 (360-374))
(IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2015-07-01) Lee, HM; Kwon, KY; Li, W; Howell, B; Grill, WM; Ghovanloo, M
Open Access
Glucose oxidase triggers gelation of N-hydroxyimide-heparin conjugates to form enzyme-responsive hydrogels for cell-specific drug delivery
(Chemical Science, 2014-11-01) Su, T; Tang, Z; He, H; Li, W; Wang, X; Liao, C; Sun, Y; Wang, Q
A new strategy for creating enzyme-responsive hydrogels by employing an N-hydroxyimide-heparin conjugate, designed to act as both an enzyme-mediated radical initiator and an enzyme-sensitive therapeutic carrier, is described. A novel enzyme-mediated redox initiation system involving glucose oxidase (GOx), an N-hydroxyimide-heparin conjugate and glucose is reported. The GOx-mediated radical polymerization reaction allows quick formation of hydrogels under mild conditions, with excellent flexibility in the modulation of the physical and chemical characteristics. The heparin-specific enzymatic cleavage reaction enables the delivery of cargo from the hydrogel in amounts that are controlled by the environmental levels of heparanase, which is frequently associated with tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. The formed hydrogels can realize cell-specific drug delivery by targeting cancer cells that are characterized by heparanase overexpression, whilst showing little toxicity towards normal cells. This journal is
Open Access
Hydrogel-coated enzyme electrodes formed by GOx-mediated polymerization for glucose detecting
(RSC Advances, 2015-01-01) Zhang, Z; Tang, Z; Su, T; Li, W; Wang, Q
This communication reports the mild fabrication of a hydrogel-coated enzyme electrode for glucose detecting with high sensitivity (35.19 μA mM^-1 cm^-2) and robust stability.
Open Access
Hydrological Response of East China to the Variation of East Asian Summer Monsoon
(Advances in Meteorology, 2016-01-01) Li, F; Chen, D; Tang, Q; Li, W; Zhang, X
Copyright © 2016 Fuxing Li et al.The sensitivity of hydrologic variables in East China, that is, runoff, precipitation, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture to the fluctuation of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM), is evaluated by the Mann-Kendall correlation analysis on a spatial resolution of 1/4° in the period of 1952-2012. The results indicate remarkable spatial disparities in the correlation between the hydrologic variables and EASM. The regions in East China susceptible to hydrological change due to EASM fluctuation are identified. When the standardized anomaly of intensity index of EASM (EASMI) is above 1.00, the runoff of Haihe basin has increased by 49% on average, especially in the suburb of Beijing and Hebei province where the runoff has increased up to 105%. In contrast, the runoff in the basins of Haihe and Yellow River has decreased by about 27% and 17%, respectively, when the standardized anomaly of EASMI is below -1.00, which has brought severe drought to the areas since mid-1970s. The study can be beneficial for national or watershed agencies developing adaptive water management strategies in the face of global climate change.
Open Access
Impact of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation on Tropical Cyclone Activity in the North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific.
(Sci Rep, 2015-07-24) Li, W; Li, L; Deng, Y
Tropical cyclones (TCs) are among the most devastating weather systems affecting the United States and Central America (USCA). Here we show that the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) strongly modulates TC activity over the North Atlantic (NA) and eastern North Pacific (eNP). During positive IPO phases, less (more) TCs were observed over NA (eNP), likely due to the presence of stronger (weaker) vertical wind shear and the resulting changes in genesis potential. Furthermore, TCs over NA tend to keep their tracks more eastward and recurve at lower latitudes during positive IPO phases. Such variations are largely determined by changes in steering flow instead of changes in genesis locations. Over the eNP, smaller track variations are observed at different IPO phases with stable, westward movements of TCs prevailing. These findings have substantial implications for understanding decadal to inter-decadal fluctuations in the risk of TC landfalls along USCA coasts.
Open Access
Impacts of land use change and climate variations on annual inflow into the Miyun Reservoir, Beijing, China
(Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2016-04-22) Zheng, J; Sun, G; Li, W; Gong, Y; Tu, L
© Author(s) 2016.The Miyun Reservoir, the only surface water source for Beijing city, has experienced water supply decline in recent decades. Previous studies suggest that both land use change and climate contribute to the changes of water supply in this critical watershed. However, the specific causes of the decline in the Miyun Reservoir are debatable under a non-stationary climate in the past 4 decades. The central objective of this study was to quantify the separate and collective contributions of land use change and climate variability to the decreasing inflow into the Miyun Reservoir during 1961-2008. Different from previous studies on this watershed, we used a comprehensive approach to quantify the timing of changes in hydrology and associated environmental variables using the long-term historical hydrometeorology and remote-sensing-based land use records. To effectively quantify the different impacts of the climate variation and land use change on streamflow during different subperiods, an annual water balance model (AWB), the climate elasticity model (CEM), and a rainfall-runoff model (RRM) were employed to conduct attribution analysis synthetically. We found a significant (p <0.01) decrease in annual streamflow, a significant positive trend in annual potential evapotranspiration (p <0.01), and an insignificant (p >0.1) negative trend in annual precipitation during 1961-2008. We identified two streamflow breakpoints, 1983 and 1999, by the sequential Mann-Kendall test and double-mass curve. Climate variability alone did not explain the decrease in inflow to the Miyun Reservoir. Reduction of water yield was closely related to increase in actual evapotranspiration due to the expansion of forestland and reduction in cropland and grassland, and was likely exacerbated by increased water consumption for domestic and industrial uses in the basin. The contribution to the observed streamflow decline from land use change fell from 64-92% during 1984-1999 to 36-58% during 2000-2008, whereas the contribution from climate variation climbed from 8-36% during the 1984-1999 to 42- 64% during 2000-2008. Model uncertainty analysis further demonstrated that climate warming played a dominant role in streamflow reduction in the most recent decade (i.e., 2000s). We conclude that future climate change and variability will further challenge the water supply capacity of the Miyun Reservoir to meet water demand. A comprehensive watershed management strategy needs to consider the climate variations besides vegetation management in the study basin.
Open Access
Influence of land surface on transition from dry to wet season in Amazonia
(Theoretical & Applied Climatology, 2004) Fu, R; Li, W
Analysis of the fifteen years of European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis suggests that the transition from dry to wet season in Southern Amazonia is initially driven by increases of surface latent heat flux. These fluxes rapidly reduce Convective Inhibition Energy (CINE) and increase Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), consequently providing favourable conditions for increased rainfall even before the large-scale circulation has changed. The increase of rainfall presumably initiates the reversal of the crossequatorial flow, leading to large-scale net moisture convergence over Southern Amazonia. An analysis of early and late wet season onsets on an interannual scale shows that a longer dry season with lower rainfall reduces surface latent heat flux in the dry and earlier transition periods compared to that of a normal wet season onset. These conditions result in a higher CINE and a lower CAPE, causing a delay in the increase of local rainfall in the initiating phase of the transition and consequently in the wet season onset. Conversely, a wetter dry season leads to a higher surface latent heat flux and weaker CINE, providing a necessary condition for an earlier increase of local rainfall and an earlier wet season onset. Our results imply that if land use change in Amazonia reduces rainfall during dry and transition seasons, it could significantly delay the wet season onset and prolong the dry season.
Open Access
Intensification of summer rainfall variability in the southeastern United States during recent decades
(Journal of Hydrometeorology, 2010-08-01) Wang; H; Fu, R; Kumar, A; Li, W
The variability of summer precipitation in the southeastern United States is examined in this study using 60-yr (1948-2007) rainfall data. The Southeast summer rainfalls exhibited higher interannual variability with more intense summer droughts and anomalous wetness in the recent 30 years (1978-2007) than in the prior 30 years (1948-77). Such intensification of summer rainfall variability was consistent with a decrease of light (0.1-1 mm day-1) and medium (1-10 mm day-1) rainfall events during extremely dry summers and an increase of heavy (.10 mm day-1) rainfall events in extremely wet summers. Changes in rainfall variability were also accompanied by a southward shift of the region of maximum zonal wind variability at the jet stream level in the latter period. The covariability between the Southeast summer precipitation and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) is also analyzed using the singular value decomposition (SVD) method. It is shown that the increase of Southeast summer precipitation variability is primarily associated with a higher SST variability across the equatorial Atlantic and also SST warming in the Atlantic. © 2010 American Meteorological Society.
Open Access
Interannual variation of the surface temperature of tropical forests from satellite observations
(Advances in Meteorology, 2015-05-17) Gao, H; Zhang, S; Fu, R; Li, W; Dickinson, RE
Land surface temperatures (LSTs) within tropical forests contribute to climate variations. However, observational data are very limited in such regions. This study used passive microwave remote sensing data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS), providing observations under all weather conditions, to investigate the LST over the Amazon and Congo rainforests. The SSM/I and SSMIS data were collected from 1996 to 2012. The morning and afternoon observations from passive microwave remote sensing facilitate the investigation of the interannual changes of LST anomalies on a diurnal basis. As a result of the variability of cloud cover and the corresponding reduction of solar radiation, the afternoon LST anomalies tend to vary more than the morning LST anomalies. The dominant spatial and temporal patterns for interseasonal variations of the LST anomalies over the tropical rainforest were analyzed. The impacts of droughts and El Niños on this LST were also investigated. Differences between early morning and late afternoon LST anomalies were identified by the remote sensing product, with the morning LST anomalies controlled by humidity (according to comparisons with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data).
Open Access
Inverse transport problem in fluorescence ultrasound modulated optical tomography with angularly averaged measurements
(Inverse Problems, 2020-02-01) Li, W; Yang, Y; Zhong, Y
Open Access
Local kinetic energy budget of high-frequency and intermediate-frequency eddies: winter climatology and interannual variability
(CLIMATE DYNAMICS, 2013-08) Jiang, T; Deng, Y; Li, W
Open Access
Mass Footprints of the North Pacific Atmospheric Blocking Highs
(JOURNAL OF CLIMATE, 2015-06) Park, TW; Deng, Y; Li, W; Yang, S; Cai, M
Open Access
Thermodynamic and dynamic contributions to future changes in regional precipitation variance: focus on the Southeastern United States
(Climate Dynamics, 2014-07-02) Li, L; Li, W
© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.The frequency and severity of extreme events are tightly associated with the variance of precipitation. As climate warms, the acceleration in hydrological cycle is likely to enhance the variance of precipitation across the globe. However, due to the lack of an effective analysis method, the mechanisms responsible for the changes of precipitation variance are poorly understood, especially on regional scales. Our study fills this gap by formulating a variance partition algorithm, which explicitly quantifies the contributions of atmospheric thermodynamics (specific humidity) and dynamics (wind) to the changes in regional-scale precipitation variance. Taking Southeastern (SE) United States (US) summer precipitation as an example, the algorithm is applied to the simulations of current and future climate by phase 5 of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models. The analysis suggests that compared to observations, most CMIP5 models (~60 %) tend to underestimate the summer precipitation variance over the SE US during the 1950–1999, primarily due to the errors in the modeled dynamic processes (i.e. large-scale circulation). Among the 18 CMIP5 models analyzed in this study, six of them reasonably simulate SE US summer precipitation variance in the twentieth century and the underlying physical processes; these models are thus applied for mechanistic study of future changes in SE US summer precipitation variance. In the future, the six models collectively project an intensification of SE US summer precipitation variance, resulting from the combined effects of atmospheric thermodynamics and dynamics. Between them, the latter plays a more important role. Specifically, thermodynamics results in more frequent and intensified wet summers, but does not contribute to the projected increase in the frequency and intensity of dry summers. In contrast, atmospheric dynamics explains the projected enhancement in both wet and dry summers, indicating its importance in understanding future climate change over the SE US. The results suggest that the intensified SE US summer precipitation variance is not a purely thermodynamic response to greenhouse gases forcing, and cannot be explained without the contribution of atmospheric dynamics. Our analysis provides important insights to understand the mechanisms of SE US summer precipitation variance change. The algorithm formulated in this study can be easily applied to other regions and seasons to systematically explore the mechanisms responsible for the changes in precipitation extremes in a warming climate.