ENSIP: the El Niño simulation intercomparison project

An ensemble of twenty four coupled ocean-atmosphere models has been compared with respect to their performance in the tropical Pacific. The coupled models span a large portion of the parameter space and differ in many respects. The intercomparison includes TOGA (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere)-type models consisting of high-resolution tropical ocean models and coarse-resolution global atmosphere models, coarse-resolution global coupled models, and a few global coupled models with high resolution in the equatorial region in their ocean components. The performance of the annual mean state, the seasonal cycle and the interannual variability are investigated. The primary quantity analysed is sea surface temperature (SST). Additionally, the evolution of interannual heat content variations in the tropical Pacific and the relationship between the interannual SST variations in the equatorial Pacific to fluctuations in the strength of the Indian summer monsoon are investigated. The results can be summarised as follows: almost all models (even those employing flux corrections) still have problems in simulating the SST climatology, although some improvements are found relative to earlier intercomparison studies. Only a few of the coupled models simulate the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in terms of gross equatorial SST anomalies realistically. In particular, many models overestimate the variability in the western equatorial Pacific and underestimate the SST variability in the east. The evolution of interannual heat content variations is similar to that observed in almost all models. Finally, the majority of the models show a strong connection between ENSO and the strength of the Indian summer monsoon.     

Factors that affect the amplitude of El Nino in global coupled climate models

Historically, El Nino-like events simulated in global coupled climate models have had reduced amplitude compared to observations. Here, El Nino-like phenomena are compared in ten sensitivity experiments using two recent global coupled models. These models have various combinations of horizontal and vertical ocean resolution, ocean physics, and atmospheric model resolution. It is demonstrated that the lower the value of the ocean background vertical diffusivity, the greater the amplitude of El Nino variability which is related primarily to a sharper equatorial thermocline. Among models with low background vertical diffusivity, stronger equatorial zonal wind stress is associated with relatively higher amplitude El Nino variability along with more realistic east–west sea surface temperature (SST) gradient along the equator. The SST seasonal cycle in the eastern tropical Pacific has too much of a semiannual component with a double intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in all experiments, and thus does not affect, nor is it affected by, the amplitude of El Nino variability. Systematic errors affecting the spatial variability of El Nino in the experiments are characterized by the eastern equatorial Pacific cold tongue regime extending too far westward into the warm pool. The time scales of interannual variability (as represented by time series of Nino3 SSTs) show significant power in the 3–4 year ENSO band and 2–2.5 year tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO) band in the model experiments. The TBO periods in the models agree well with the observations, while the ENSO periods are near the short end of the range of 3–6 years observed during the period 1950–94. The close association between interannual variability of equatorial eastern Pacific SSTs and large-scale SST patterns is represented by significant correlations between Nino3 time series and the PC time series of the first EOFs of near-global SSTs in the models and observations. Received: 17 April 2000 / Accepted: 17 August 2000     

An OGCM Simulation of Seasonal and Interannual Variabilities in the Surface—Layer Pacific of the Equatorial Band

The heat budget is analyzed in the surface-layer (0-50 m) Pacific of the equatorial band (10°S-10°N),using the simulation of an ocean general circulation model from 1945 to 1993. The analysis indicates that downward net surface heat flux from the atmosphere and ocean advective heat fluxes play distinct roles in seasonal and interannual variabilities of surface-layer ocean temperature. The surface heat flux dominantly determines the ocean temperature in the seasonal time-scale. But, it has a negative feedback to the ocean temperature in the interannual time-scale. The interannual variability of ocean temperature is largely associated with the cold advection from off-equatorial divergent flow in the central Pacific and from upwelling in the cold tongue. Both the surface heat flux and ocean advective heat fluxes are important to the ocean temperature during an El Nino event. The ocean advective heat fluxes are further associated with local westward trade wind in the central Pacific. These results are largely consistent with some regional observational analyses.     

Sensitivity of tropical Atlantic climate to mixing in a coupled ocean–atmosphere model

The sensitivity of tropical Atlantic climate to upper ocean mixing is investigated using an ocean-only model and a coupled ocean–atmosphere model. The upper ocean thermal structure and associated atmospheric circulation prove to be strongly related to the strength of upper ocean mixing. Using the heat balance in the mixed layer it is shown that an excessively cold equatorial cold tongue can be attributed to entrainment flux at the base of the oceanic mixed layer, that is too large. Enhanced entrainment efficiency acts to deepen the mixed layer and causes strong reduction in the upper ocean divergence in the central equatorial Atlantic. As a result, the simulated sea surface temperature, thermocline structure, and upwelling velocities are close to the observed estimates. In the coupled model, the seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) reduces when the entrainment efficiency in the oceanic mixed layer is enhanced. The precipitation rates decrease in the equatorial region and increase along 10°N, resulting in a more realistic Atlantic Marine ITCZ. The reduced meridional surface temperature gradient in the eastern tropical Atlantic prohibits the development of convective precipitation in the southeastern part of the tropical Atlantic. Also, the simulation of tropical Atlantic variability as expressed in the meridional gradient mode and the eastern cold tongue mode improves when the entrainment efficiency is enhanced.     

Sensitivity of the tropical Pacific to a change of orbital forcing in two versions of a coupled GCM

 The changes of the variability of the tropical Pacific ocean forced by a shift of six months in the date of the perihelion are studied using a coupled tropical Pacific ocean/global atmosphere GCM. The sensitivity experiments are conducted with two versions of the atmospheric model, varied by two parametrization changes. The first one concerns the interpolation scheme between the atmosphere and ocean models grids near the coasts, the second one the advection of water vapor in the presence of downstream negative temperature gradients, as encountered in the vicinity of mountains. In the tropical Pacific region, the parametrization differences only have a significant direct effect near the coasts; but coupled feedbacks lead to a 1 °C warming of the equatorial cold tongue in the modified (version 2) model, and a widening of the western Pacific large-scale convergence area. The sensitivity of the seasonal cycle of equatorial SST is very different between the two experiments. In both cases, the response to the solar flux forcing is strongly modified by coupled interactions between the SST, wind stress response and ocean dynamics. In the first version, the main feedback is due to anomalous upwelling and leads to westward propagation of SST anomalies; whereas the version 2 model is dominated by an eastward-propagating thermocline mode. The main reason diagnosed for these different behaviors is the atmospheric response to SST anomalies. In the warmer climate simulated by the second version, the wind stress response in the western Pacific is enhanced, and the off-equatorial curl is reduced, both effects favoring eastward propagation through thermocline depth anomalies. The modifications of the simulated seasonal cycle in version 2 lead to a change in ENSO behavior. In the control climate, the interannual variability in the eastern Pacific is dominated by warm events, whereas cold events tend to be the more extreme ones with a shifted perihelion. Received: 14 December 1999 / Accepted: 24 May 2000     

Impact of resolving the diurnal cycle in an ocean–atmosphere GCM. Part 2: A diurnally coupled CGCM

Coupled ocean atmosphere general circulation models (GCM) are typically coupled once every 24 h, excluding the diurnal cycle from the upper ocean. Previous studies attempting to examine the role of the diurnal cycle of the upper ocean and particularly of diurnal SST variability have used models unable to resolve the processes of interest. In part 1 of this study a high vertical resolution ocean GCM configuration with modified physics was developed that could resolve the diurnal cycle in the upper ocean. In this study it is coupled every 3 h to atmospheric GCM to examine the sensitivity of the mean climate simulation and aspects of its variability to the inclusion of diurnal ocean-atmosphere coupling. The inclusion of the diurnal cycle leads to a tropics wide increase in mean sea surface temperature (SST), with the strongest signal being across the equatorial Pacific where the warming increases from 0.2°C in the central and western Pacific to over 0.3°C in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Much of this warming is shown to be a direct consequence of the rectification of daily mean SST by the diurnal variability of SST. The warming of the equatorial Pacific leads to a redistribution of precipitation from the Inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) toward the equator. In the western Pacific there is an increase in precipitation between Papa new guinea and 170°E of up to 1.2 mm/day, improving the simulation compared to climatology. Pacific sub tropical cells are increased in strength by about 10%, in line with results of part 1 of this study, due to the modification of the exchange of momentum between the equatorially divergent Ekman currents and the geostropic convergence at depth, effectively increasing the dynamical response of the tropical Pacific to zonal wind stresses. During the spring relaxation of the Pacific trade winds, a large diurnal cycle of SST increases the seasonal warming of the equatorial Pacific. When the trade winds then re-intensify, the increase in the dynamical response of the ocean leads to a stronger equatorial upwelling. These two processes both lead to stronger seasonal basin scale feedbacks in the coupled system, increasing the strength of the seasonal cycle of the tropical Pacific sector by around 10%. This means that the diurnal cycle in the upper ocean plays a part in the coupled feedbacks between ocean and atmosphere that maintain the basic state and the timing of the seasonal cycle of SST and trade winds in the tropical Pacific. The Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) is examined by use of a large scale MJO index, lag correlations and composites of events. The inclusion of the diurnal cycle leads to a reduction in overall MJO activity. Precipitation composites show that the MJO is stronger and more coherent when the diurnal cycle of coupling is resolved, with the propagation and different phases being far more distinct both locally and to larger lead times across the tropical Indo-Pacific. Part one of this study showed that that diurnal variability of SST is modulated by the MJO and therefore increases the intraseasonal SST response to the different phases of the MJO. Precipitation-based composites of SST variability confirm this increase in the coupled simulations. It is argued that including this has increased the thermodynamical coupling of the ocean and atmosphere on the timescale of the MJO (20–100 days), accounting for the improvement in the MJO strength and coherency seen in composites of precipitation and SST. These results show that the diurnal cycle of ocean–atmosphere interaction has profound impact on a range of up-scale variability in the tropical climate and as such, it is an important feature of the modelled climate system which is currently either neglected or poorly resolved in state of the art coupled models.     

A neural network atmospheric model for hybrid coupled modelling

 The possibility of using a nonlinear empirical atmospheric model for hybrid coupled atmosphere-ocean modelling has been examined by using a neural network (NN) model for predicting the contemporaneous wind stress field from the upper ocean state. Upper ocean heat content (HC) from a 6-layer ocean model was a better predictor of the wind stress than the (observed or modelled) sea surface temperature (SST). Our results showed that the NN model generally had slightly better skills in predicting the contemporaneous wind stress than the linear regression (LR) model in the off-equatorial tropical Pacific and in the eastern equatorial Pacific. When the wind stresses from the NN and LR models were used to drive the ocean model, slightly better SST skills were found in the off-equatorial tropical Pacific and in the eastern equatorial Pacific when the NN winds were used instead of the LR winds. Better skills for the model HC were found in the western and central equatorial Pacific when the NN winds were used instead of the LR winds. Why NN failed to show more significant improvement over LR in the equatorial Pacific for the wind stress and SST is probably because the relationship between the surface ocean and the atmosphere in the equatorial Pacific over the seasonal time scale is almost linear. Received: 2 March 1999 / Accepted: 13 July 2000     

CoPIVEP: a theory-based analysis of coupled processes and interannual variability in the Equatorial Pacific in four coupled GCMs

 The interannual variability over the tropical Pacific and a possible link with the mean state or the seasonal cycle is examined in four coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models (GCM). Each model is composed of a high-resolution ocean GCM of either the tropical Pacific or near-global oceans coupled to a moderate-resolution atmospheric GCM, without using flux correction. The oceanic subsurface is considered to describe the mean state or the seasonal cycle through the analytical formulations of some potential coupled processes. These coupled processes characterise the zonal gradient of sea surface temperature (hereafter SST), the oceanic vertical gradient of temperature and the equatorial upwelling. The simulated SST patterns of the mean state and the interannual signals are generally too narrow. The grid of the oceanic model could control the structure of the SST interannual signals while the behaviour of the atmospheric model could be important in the link between the oceanic surface and the subsurface. The first SST EOFs are different between the coupled models, however, the second SST EOFs are quite similar and could correspond to the return to the normal state while that of the observations (COADS) could favour the initial anomaly. All the models seem to simulate a similar equatorial wave-like dynamics to return to the normal state. The more the basic state is unstable from the coupled processes point of view, the more the interannual signal are high. It seems that the basic state could control the intensity of the interannual variability. Two models, which have a significant seasonal variation of the interannual variance, also have a significant seasonal variation of the instability with a few months lag. The potential seasonal phase locking of the interannual fluctuations need to be examined in more models to confirm its existence in current tropical GCMs. Received: 30 July 1999 / Accepted: 25 April 2000     

Simulation of salinity variability and the related freshwater flux forcing in the tropical Pacific: An evaluation using the Beijing normal university earth system model (BNU-ESM)

The climatology and interannual variability of sea surface salinity(SSS) and freshwater flux(FWF) in the equatorial Pacific are analyzed and evaluated using simulations from the Beijing Normal University Earth System Model(BNU-ESM).The simulated annual climatology and interannual variations of SSS, FWF, mixed layer depth(MLD), and buoyancy flux agree with those observed in the equatorial Pacific. The relationships among the interannual anomaly fields simulated by BNU-ESM are analyzed to illustrate the climate feedbacks induced by FWF in the tropical Pacific. The largest interannual variations of SSS and FWF are located in the western-central equatorial Pacific. A positive FWF feedback effect on sea surface temperature(SST) in the equatorial Pacific is identified. As a response to El Ni ?no–Southern Oscillation(ENSO),the interannual variation of FWF induces ocean processes which, in turn, enhance ENSO. During El Ni ?no, a positive FWF anomaly in the western-central Pacific(an indication of increased precipitation rates) acts to enhance a negative salinity anomaly and a negative surface ocean density anomaly, leading to stable stratification in the upper ocean. Hence, the vertical mixing and entrainment of subsurface water into the mixed layer are reduced, and the associated El Ni ?no is enhanced. Related to this positive feedback, the simulated FWF bias is clearly reflected in SSS and SST simulations, with a positive FWF perturbation into the ocean corresponding to a low SSS and a small surface ocean density in the western-central equatorial Pacific warm pool.     

Analysis of the Slab Ocean El Nino atmospheric feedbacks in observed and simulated ENSO dynamics

In a recent study it was illustrated that the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) mode can exist in the absence of any ocean dynamics. This oscillating mode exists just due to the interaction between atmospheric heat fluxes and ocean heat capacity. The primary purpose of this study is to further explore these atmospheric Slab Ocean ENSO dynamics and therefore the role of positive atmospheric feedbacks in model simulations and observations. The positive solar radiation feedback to sea surface temperature (SST), due to reduced cloud cover for anomalous warm SSTs, is the main positive feedback in the Slab Ocean El Nino dynamics. The strength of this positive cloud feedback is strongly related to the strength of the equatorial cold tongue. The combination of positive latent and sensible heat fluxes to the west and negative ones to the east of positive anomalies leads to the westward propagation of the SST anomalies, which allows for oscillating behavior with a preferred period of 6–7 years. Several indications are found that parts of these dynamics are indeed observed and simulated in other atmospheric or coupled general circulation models (AGCMs or CGCMs). The CMIP3 AGCM-slab ensemble of 13 different AGCM simulations shows unstable ocean–atmosphere interactions along the equatorial Pacific related to stronger cold tongues. In observations and in the CMIP3 and CMIP5 CGCM model ensemble the strength and sign of the cloud feedback is a function of the strength of the cold tongue. In summary, this indicates that the Slab Ocean El Nino dynamics are indeed a characteristic of the equatorial Pacific climate that is only dominant or significantly contributing to the ENSO dynamics if the SST cold tongue is sufficiently strong. In the observations this is only the case during strong La Nina conditions. The presence of the Slab Ocean ENSO atmospheric feedbacks in observations and CGCM model simulations implies that the family of physical ENSO modes does have another member, which is entirely driven by atmospheric processes and does not need to have the same spatial pattern nor the same time scales as the main ENSO dynamics.     

Reduction of the thermocline feedback associated with mean SST bias in ENSO simulation

Associated with the double Inter-tropical convergence zone problem, a dipole SST bias pattern (cold in the equatorial central Pacific and warm in the southeast tropical Pacific) remains a common problem inherent in many contemporary coupled models. Based on a newly-developed coupled model, we performed a control run and two sensitivity runs, one is a coupled run with annual mean SST correction and the other is an ocean forced run. By comparison of these three runs, we demonstrated that a serious consequence of this SST bias is to severely suppress the thermocline feedback in a realistic simulation of the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation. Firstly, the excessive cold tongue extension pushes the anomalous convection far westward from the equatorial central Pacific, prominently diminishing the convection-low level wind feedback and thus the air-sea coupling strength. Secondly, the equatorial surface wind anomaly exhibits a relatively uniform meridional structure with weak gradient, contributing to a weakened wind-thermocline feedback. Thirdly, the equatorial cold SST bias induces a weakened upper-ocean stratification and thus yields the underestimation of the thermocline-subsurface temperature feedback. Finally, the dipole SST bias underestimates the mean upwelling through (a) undermining equatorial mean easterly wind stress, and (b) enhancing convective mixing and thus reducing the upper ocean stratification, which weakens vertical shear of meridional currents and near-surface Ekman-divergence.     

Quantitative analysis of the feedback induced by the freshwater flux in the tropical Pacific using CMIP5

Freshwater flux (FWF) directly affects sea surface salinity (SSS) and hence modulates sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Pacific. This paper quantifies a positive correlation between FWF and SST using observations and simulations of the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to analyze the interannual variability in the tropical Pacific. Comparisons among the displacements of FWF, SSS and SST interannual variabilities illustrate that a large FWF variability is located in the west-central equatorial Pacific, covarying with a large SSS variability, whereas a large SST variability is located in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Most CMIP5 models can reproduce the fact that FWF leads to positive feedback to SST through an SSS anomaly as observed. However, the difference in each model's performance results from different simulation capabilities of the CMIP5 models in the magnitudes and positions of the interannual variabilities, including the mixed layer depth and the buoyancy flux in the equatorial Pacific. SSS anomalies simulated from the CMIP5 multi-model are sensitive to FWF interannual anomalies, which can lead to differences in feedback to interannual SST variabilities. The relationships among the FWF, SSS and SST interannual variabilities can be derived using linear quantitative measures from observations and the CMIP5 multi-model simulations. A 1 mm d-1 FWF anomaly corresponds to an SSS anomaly of nearly 0.12 psu in the western tropical Pacific and a 0.11°C SST anomaly in the eastern tropical Pacific.     

北大西洋年际变率的海气耦合模式模拟II：热带太平洋强迫

利用一个全球海气耦合模式(BCM),结合观测资料,讨论了热带太平洋强迫对北大西洋年际气候变率的影响。研究表明,BCM能够相对合理地模拟赤道太平洋的年际变率模态及相应的海温距平型和大气遥相关型,尽管其准3年的振荡周期过于规则。来自数值模式和观测上的证据都表明,北大西洋冬季海温的主导性变率模态,即自北而南出现的“- -”的海温距平型,受到来自热带太平洋强迫的显著影响,其正位相与赤道中东太平洋冷事件相对应。换言之,赤道太平洋暖事件的发生,在太平洋-北美沿岸激发出PNA遥相关型,进而通过在北大西洋产生类似NAO负位相的气压距平型,削弱本来与NAO正位相直接联系的三核型海温距平。北大西洋三核型海温距平对热带太平洋强迫的响应,要滞后2—3个月的时间。     

Modeling the tropical Pacific Ocean using a regional coupled climate model

A high-resolution tropical Pacific general circulation model (GCM) coupled to a global atmospheric GCM is described in this paper. The atmosphere component is the 5°×4°global general circulation model of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) with 9 levels in the vertical direction. The ocean component with a horizontal resolution of 0.5°, is based on a low-resolution model (2°×1°in longitude-latitude).Simulations of the ocean component are first compared with its previous version. Results show that the enhanced ocean horizontal resolution allows an improved ocean state to be simulated; this involves (1) an apparent decrease in errors in the tropical Pacific cold tongue region, which exists in many ocean models,(2) more realistic large-scale flows, and (3) an improved ability to simulate the interannual variability and a reduced root mean square error (RMSE) in a long time integration. In coupling these component models, a monthly "linear-regression" method is employed to correct the model's exchanged flux between the sea and the atmosphere. A 100-year integration conducted with the coupled GCM (CGCM) shows the effectiveness of such a method in reducing climate drift. Results from years 70 to 100 are described.The model produces a reasonably realistic annual cycle of equatorial SST. The large SSTA is confined to the eastern equatorial Pacific with little propagation. Irregular warm and cold events alternate with a broad spectrum of periods between 24 and 50 months, which is very realistic. But the simulated variability is weaker than the observed and is also asymmetric in the sense of the amplitude of the warm and cold events.     

A Coupling Experiment of an Atmosphere and an Ocean Model with a Monthly Anomaly Exchange Scheme

A nine-layer spectral atmospheric general circulation model is coupled to a twenty-layer global oceanic general circulation model with the “prediction-correction” monthly anomaly exchange scheme which has been proposed at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP). A forty-year integration of the coupled model shows that the CGCM is fairly successful in keeping a reasonable pattern of the modelled SST although most of the Pacific become warmer than those given by the uncoupled ocean model. The model tends to reach a more realistic state than the uncoupled one in terms of downward surface heat flux into ocean particularly in the equatorial Pacific region. Also, the model is capable to simulate interannual variability of sea surface temperature in tropical region.     

MEAN SQUARE DEVIATION ANALYSIS OF INTERANNUAL SST VARIABILITY IN TROPICAL PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEAN

Using the SST data series in tropical ocean(20°N-20°S,50°E-80°W)during 1951-1997 to calculate its monthly mean square deviation,the work obtains results showing that interannual SST variability of the Pacific is more significant than that of the Indian Ocean.Especially near the central and eastern equatorial Pacific(165°W-90°W,6°N-6°S）。where it ranges from 2℃ to 4℃.The interannual SST variability is obvious in November and December but small in March and April.The interannual variabiltiy of “warm pool“SST is not so obvious as that of the eastern equatorial Pacific,Howerver,interannual SST variability of the Indian Ocean ranges from 1℃to 2℃ or so,being smaller than that of the Pacific,In the Indian ocean.Interannual SST variability of the Southern Hemisphere is more obvious than that of the Northern Hemisphere,According to above characterstics of interannual SST variability,the key sectors are determined.     

IAP第四代大气环流模式的耦合气候系统模式模拟性能评估

本文首先扼要介绍了基于中国科学院大气物理研究所(简称IAP)第四代大气环流模式的新气候系统模式-CAS-ESM-C(中国科学院地球系统模式气候系统模式分量)的发展和结构,之后主要对该模式在模拟大气、海洋、陆面和海冰的气候平均态、季节循环以及主要的年际变率等方面的能力做一个初步的评估.结果表明:模式没有明显的气候漂移,各...     

热通量和风应力影响北太平洋SST年际和年代际变率的数值模拟

利用一个大洋环流模式LICOM, 通过1958～2001年风应力 (ERA40) 和热通量驱动下的两组模拟试验, 检验了二者在北太平洋年际和年代际变率形成中的作用。结果表明, 尽管在年际尺度上热带太平洋变率主要受风应力影响, 但合理考虑热通量异常的强迫作用能够显著改进模式对El Niño的模拟效果, 包括对El Niño周期非规则性的成功模拟; 北太平洋SST的年际和年代际异常主要受热通量异常的影响, 合理考虑热通量强迫的年代际变化能够改善模式对北太平洋年代际变率的模拟效果。在北太平洋海盆的不同区域, 导致SST变率异常的因子不同: 在加利福尼亚沿岸, 冬季平均海温的变率异常主要由热通量的异常决定; 在北太平洋中部, 温度趋势异常主要受热通量和水平平流的作用影响; 在黑潮及其延伸体区域, 对温度趋势异常起主导作用的是热通量和海洋非线性作用, 与此同时, 水平平流和扩散的作用亦不容忽视。     

A recipe for simulating the interannual variability of the Asian summer monsoon and its relation with ENSO

This study investigates how accurately the interannual variability over the Indian Ocean basin and the relationship between the Indian summer monsoon and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can be simulated by different modelling strategies. With a hierarchy of models, from an atmospherical general circulation model (AGCM) forced by observed SST, to a coupled model with the ocean component limited to the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, the role of heat fluxes and of interactive coupling is analyzed. Whenever sea surface temperature anomalies in the Indian basin are created by the coupled model, the inverse relationship between the ENSO index and the Indian summer monsoon rainfall is recovered, and it is preserved if the atmospherical model is forced by the SSTs created by the coupled model. If the ocean model domain is limited to the Indian Ocean, changes in the Walker circulation over the Pacific during El-Niño years induce a decrease of rainfall over the Indian subcontinent. However, the observed correlation between ENSO and the Indian Ocean zonal mode (IOZM) is not properly modelled and the two indices are not significantly correlated, independently on season. Whenever the ocean domain extends to the Pacific, and ENSO can impact both the atmospheric circulation and the ocean subsurface in the equatorial Eastern Indian Ocean, modelled precipitation patterns associated both to ENSO and to the IOZM closely resemble the observations.     

On the phase propagation and relationship of interannual variability in the tropical Pacific climate system

—Upper ocean thermal data and surface marine observations are used to describe the three-dimensional, basinwide co-evolution of interannual variability in the tropical Pacific climate system. The phase propagation behavior differs greatly from atmosphere to ocean, and from equatorial to off-equatorial and from sea surface to subsurface depths in the ocean. Variations in surface zonal winds and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) exhibit a standing pattern without obvious zonal phase propagation. A nonequilibrium ocean response at subsurface depths is evident, characterized by coherent zonal and meridional propagating anomalies around the tropical North Pacific: eastward on the equator but westward off the equator. Depending on geographic location, there are clear phase relations among various anomaly fields. Surface zonal winds and SSTs in the equatorial region fluctuate approximately in-phase in time, but have phase differences in space. Along the equator, zonal mean thermocline depth (or heat content) anomalies are in nonequilibrium with the zonal wind stress forcing. Variations in SSTs are not in equilibrium either with subsurface thermocline changes in the central and western equatorial Pacific, with the former lagging the latter and displaced to the east. Due to its phase relations to SST and winds, the basinwide temperature anomaly evolution at thermocline depths on an interannual time scale may determine the slow physics of ENSO, and play a central role in initiating and terminating coupled air-sea interaction. This observed basinwide phase propagation of subsurface anomaly patterns can be understood partially as water discharge processes from the western Pacific to the east and further to high latitudes, and partially by the modified delayed oscillator physics. Received: 17 January 1997 / Accepted: 10 March 1998