The interannual fluctuations of rainfall and temper-ature over China and their correlation with El Nino

The analyses of power spectra and correlation coefficients have shown that there exists a distinct quasi-3.5-year periodicity in the fluctuations of rainfall and temperature over most parts of China, which is closely related to the oscillation of sea surface temperature in the equatorial Pacific.The structures of correlations between El Nino and precipitation and temperature fields are concretely described, and the causes for some striking responses are also explored.