Impacts of the central and eastern Pacific types of ENSOon sea surface temperature in the South Pacific

The present study examines the relationship between two types of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the central Pacific (CP) ENSO and the eastern Pacific (EP) ENSO, and the sea surface temperature (SST) variability over the South Pacific (SP) (20° S–60° S, 145° E–70° W) using NOAA OI SST for the period 1982–2006. The SP SST variability associated with the two types of ENSO varies with season. These two types of ENSO can excite different atmospheric patterns associated with the Pacific–South American mode, through which they influence the SP SST variability. Both the surface turbulent air–sea heat fluxes and the heat advection by Ekman currents (i.e., Ekman heat fluxes) have an important impact on the SST variability. An analysis of the surface mixed layer heat budget indicates that the heat fluxes (the sum of turbulent heat fluxes and Ekman heat fluxes) can effectively explain much of the SST variability related to the two types of ENSO.     

Coupled variability and air-sea interaction in the South Atlantic Ocean

A total of 52 years of data (1949–2000) from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis are used to investigate mechanisms involved in forcing and damping of sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the South Atlantic Ocean. Organized patterns of coupled ocean–atmosphere variability are identified using EOF and SVD analyses. The leading mode of coupled variability consists of an SST pattern with a strong northeast–southwest gradient and an SLP monopole centered at 15°W, 45°S. The anomalous winds associated with this monopole generate the SST pattern through anomalous latent heat flux and mixed layer deepening. Other heat flux components and anomalous Ekman transport play only a secondary role. Once established, the SST pattern is attenuated through latent heat flux. The higher SST modes are also induced by anomalous winds and destroyed by latent heat flux. It thus appears that the coupled variability in the South Atlantic Ocean consists of atmospheric circulation anomalies that induce SST anomalies through anomalous latent heat fluxes and wind-induced mixed layer deepening. These SST anomalies are destroyed by latent heat flux with no detectable systematic feedback onto the atmospheric circulation. Atmospheric variability in the South Atlantic is found to be largely independent of that elsewhere, although there is a weak relation with ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation).     

Individual and combined impacts of ENSO and East Asian winter monsoon on the South China Sea cold tongue intensity

A region of low sea surface temperature (SST) extends southward in the central part of southern South China Sea during boreal winter, which is called the South China Sea cold tongue (SCS CT). The present study investigates the factors of interannual variation of SST in the SCS CT region and explores the individual and combined impacts of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) on the SCS CT intensity. During years with ENSO alone or with co-existing ENSO and anomalous EAWM, shortwave radiation and ocean horizontal advection play major roles in the interannual variation of the SCS CT intensity. Ocean advection contributes largely to the SST change in the region southeast of Vietnam. In strong CT years with anomalous EAWM alone, surface wind-related latent heat flux has a major role and shortwave radiation is secondary to the EAWM-induced change of the SCS CT intensity, whereas the role of ocean horizontal advection is relatively small. The above differences in the roles of ocean advection and latent heat flux are associated with the distribution of low level wind anomalies. In anomalous CT years with ENSO, low level anomalous cyclone/anticyclone-related wind speed change leads to latent heat flux anomalies with effects opposite to shortwave radiation. In strong CT years with anomalous EAWM alone, surface wind-related latent heat flux anomalies are large as anomalous winds are aligned with climatological winds.

     

The Asymmetric Connection of SST in the Tasman Sea with Respect to the Opposite Phases of ENSO in Austral Summer

This study uses linear regression and composite analyses to identify a pronounced asymmetric connection of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Tasman Sea with the two opposite phases of El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) during austral summer. In El Ni?o years, the SST anomalies (SSTAs) in the Tasman Sea exhibit a dipolar pattern with weak warmth in the northwest and modest cooling in the southeast, while during La Ni?a years the SSTAs exhibit a basin-scale warmth with greater amplitude. Investigations into the underlying mechanism suggest that this asymmetry arises from a mechanism related to oceanic heat transport, specifically the anomalous Ekman meridional heat transport induced by the zonal wind stress anomalies, rather than the surface heat fluxes on the air-sea interface. Further analysis reveals that the asymmetry of oceanic heat transport between El Ni?o and La Ni?a years is driven by the asymmetric atmospheric circulation over the Tasman Sea stimulated by the asymmetric diabatic heating in the tropical Pacific between the two opposite ENSO phases.     

On the interannual variability of surface salinity in the Atlantic

The mechanisms controlling the interannual variability of sea surface salinity (SSS) in the Atlantic are investigated using a simulation with the ECHAM4/OPA8 coupled model and, for comparison, the NCEP reanalysis and an observed SSS climatology. Anomalous Ekman advection is found to be as important as the freshwater flux in generating SSS anomalies, in contrast to sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies which are primarily caused by surface heat flux fluctuations. Since the surface heat flux feedback does not damp the SSS anomalies but generally damps existing SST anomalies, SSS anomalies have a larger characteristic time scale. As a result, they are more influenced by the mean currents and the geostrophic variability, which dominate the SSS changes at low frequency over much of the basin. The link between SSS anomalies and the dominant patterns of atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic sector is also discussed. It is shown that the North Atlantic Oscillation generates SSS anomalies much more by Ekman advection than by freshwater exchanges. At least in the coupled model, there is little one-to-one correspondence between the main atmospheric and SSS anomaly patterns, unlike what is found for SST anomalies.     

印度洋对ENSO事件的响应:观测与模拟

观测事实显示,在El Ni(n～)o期间,伴随着赤道中东太平洋表层海温(SST)的升高,热带印度洋SST出现正距平.作者利用海气耦合模式模拟了印度洋对ENSO事件的上述响应,并进而讨论了其物理机制.所用模式为法国国家科研中心Pierre-Simon-Laplace 全球环境科学联合实验室(IPSL)发展的全球海气耦合模式.该模式成功地控制了气候漂移,能够合理再现印度洋的基本气候态.观测中与ENSO相关的热带印度洋SST变化,表现为全海盆一致的正距平,并且这种变化要滞后赤道中东太平洋SST变化大约一个季度,意味着它主要是对东太平洋SST强迫的一种遥响应,模式结果也支持这一机制,尽管模式中的南方涛动现象被夸大了,使得模拟的与ENSO相关联的SST正距平的位置南移,阿拉伯海和孟加拉湾被负距平(而不是正距平)所控制.研究表明,东太平洋主要通过大气桥影响潜热释放来影响印度洋SST变化.赤道东太平洋El Ni(n～)o事件的发展,导致印度洋上空风场异常自东而西传播;伴随着风场的变化,潜热发生相应变化,并最终导致SST异常的发生.非洲东海岸受索马里急流控制的海域,其SST的变化不能简单地利用热通量的变化来解释.证据显示,印度洋的增暖是ENSO事件发生的结果而不是其前期信号.     

THE WARMING MECHANISM IN THE SOUTHERN ARABIAN SEA DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN OCEAN DIPOLE EVENTS

This study aims to explore the relative role of oceanic dynamics and surface heat fluxes in the warming of southern Arabian Sea and southwest Indian Ocean during the development of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events by using National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) daily reanalysis data and Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) monthly mean ocean reanalysis data from 1982 to 2013, based on regression analysis, Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis and combined with a 2? layer dynamic upper-ocean model. The results show that during the initial stage of IOD events, warm downwelling Rossby waves excited by an anomalous anticyclone over the west Indian Peninsula, southwest Indian Ocean and southeast Indian Ocean lead to the warming of the mixed layer by reducing entrainment cooling. An anomalous anticyclone over the west Indian Peninsula weakens the wind over the Arabian Sea and Somali coast, which helps decrease the sea surface heat loss and shallow the surface mixed layer, and also contributes to the sea surface temperature (SST) warming in the southern Arabian Sea by inhibiting entrainment. The weakened winds increase the SST along the Somali coast by inhibiting upwelling and zonal advection. The wind and net sea surface heat flux anomalies are not significant over the southwest Indian Ocean. During the antecedent stage of IOD events, the warming of the southern Arabian Sea is closely connected with the reduction of entrainment cooling caused by the Rossby waves and the weakened wind. With the appearance of an equatorial easterly wind anomaly, the warming of the southwest Indian Ocean is not only driven by weaker entrainment cooling caused by the Rossby waves, but also by the meridional heat transport carried by Ekman flow. The anomalous sea surface heat flux plays a key role to damp the warming of the west pole of the IOD.     

Impact of the Equatorial Atlantic on the El Ni?o Southern Oscillation

Observations indicate that the Atlantic zonal mode influences El Ni?o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific, as already suggested in previous studies. Here we demonstrate for the first time using partial coupled experiments that the Atlantic zonal mode indeed influences ENSO. The partial coupling experiments are performed by forcing the coupled general circulation model (ECHAM5/MPI-OM) with observed sea surface temperature (SST) in the Tropical Atlantic, but with full air-sea coupling allowed in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. The ensemble mean of a five member simulation reproduces the observational results well. Analysis of observations, reanalysis, and coupled model simulations all indicate the following mechanism: SST anomalies associated with the Atlantic zonal mode affect the Walker Circulation, driving westward wind anomalies over the equatorial Pacific during boreal summer. The wind stress anomalies increase the east-west thermocline slope and enhance the SST gradient across the Pacific; the Bjerknes positive feedback acts to amplify these anomalies favouring the development of a La Ni?a-like anomalies. The same mechanisms act for the cold phase of Atlantic zonal mode, but with opposite sign. In contrast to previous studies, the model shows that the influence on ENSO exists before 1970. Furthermore, no significant influence of the Tropical Atlantic on the Indian Monsoon precipitation is found in observation or model.     

Influence of the Preceding Austral Summer Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode on the Amplitude of ENSO Decay

There is increasing evidence of the possible role of extratropical forcing in the evolution of ENSO.The Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode(SAM) is the dominant mode of atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere extratropics.This study shows that the austral summer(December–January–February; DJF) SAM may also influence the amplitude of ENSO decay during austral autumn(March–April–May;MAM).The mechanisms associated with this SAM–ENSO relationship can be briefly summarized as follows:The SAM is positively(negatively) correlated with SST in the Southern Hemisphere middle(high) latitudes.This dipole-like SST anomaly pattern is referred to as the Southern Ocean Dipole(SOD).The DJF SOD,caused by the DJF SAM,could persist until MAM and then influence atmospheric circulation,including trade winds,over the Nio3.4 area.Anomalous trade winds and SST anomalies over the Nio3.4 area related to the DJF SAM are further developed through the Bjerkness feedback,which eventually results in a cooling(warming) over the Nio3.4 area followed by the positive(negative) DJF SAM.     

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.     

Summer monsoon circulation and precipitation over the tropical Indian Ocean during ENSO in the NCEP climate forecast system

This study investigates the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections to tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) and their relationship with the Indian summer monsoon in the coupled general circulation model climate forecast system (CFS). The model shows good skill in simulating the impact of El Niño over the Indian Oceanic rim during its decay phase (the summer following peak phase of El Niño). Summer surface circulation patterns during the developing phase of El Niño are more influenced by local Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies in the model unlike in observations. Eastern TIO cooling similar to that of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is a dominant model feature in summer. This anomalous SST pattern therefore is attributed to the tendency of the model to simulate more frequent IOD events. On the other hand, in the model baroclinic response to the diabatic heating anomalies induced by the El Niño related warm SSTs is weak, resulting in reduced zonal extension of the Rossby wave response. This is mostly due to weak eastern Pacific summer time SST anomalies in the model during the developing phase of El Niño as compared to observations. Both eastern TIO cooling and weak SST warming in El Niño region combined together undermine the ENSO teleconnections to the TIO and south Asia regions. The model is able to capture the spatial patterns of SST, circulation and precipitation well during the decay phase of El Niño over the Indo-western Pacific including the typical spring asymmetric mode and summer basin-wide warming in TIO. The model simulated El Niño decay one or two seasons later, resulting long persistent warm SST and circulation anomalies mainly over the southwest TIO. In response to the late decay of El Niño, Ekman pumping shows two maxima over the southern TIO. In conjunction with this unrealistic Ekman pumping, westward propagating Rossby waves display two peaks, which play key role in the long-persistence of the TIO warming in the model (for more than a season after summer). This study strongly supports the need of simulating the correct onset and decay phases of El Niño/La Niña for capturing the realistic ENSO teleconnections. These results have strong implications for the forecasting of Indian summer monsoon as this model is currently being adopted as an operational model in India.     

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.     

Climate variability in the south-eastern tropical Pacific and its relation with ENSO: a GCM study

About a third of the El-Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability in the HadCM3 coupled general-circulation model is shown to be associated with variability in the south-east tropical Pacific (SETP) area. Sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies along the east Pacific tend to precede ENSO anomalies. In HadCM3, SST tendencies in the SETP area are controlled mainly by surface latent heat fluxes and short-wave cloud forcing. Interannual SST anomalies in the SETP tend to propagate meridionally. In the winter season (JJA), this is consistent with a wind-evaporation-SST (WES) mode. Coupling with the strato-cumulus cloud (Sc) cover is critical in reducing the evaporative damping of the WES mode, and external forcing is provided by extratropical circulation anomalies. In spring, SETP variability and ENSO are coupled via the low-level circulation, resulting in a mutual reinforcement. Cloud-cover anomalies are not strongly controlled by local SSTs, and appear mainly dependent on atmospheric meridional advection. The apparent association between cold SSTs and Sc cover does not reflect a positive local feedback. These conclusions are not sensitive to the model’s warm SST bias, associated with reduced stratocumulus clouds and weak southerly wind stress, which depends on erroneous near-field orographic forcing of the coastal circulation. Some of our results are supported by similar evidence from observational datasets and other CMIP3 models.     

冬季北太平洋海表热通量异常和海气相互作用——基于一个全球海气耦合模式长期积分的诊断分析

利用一个全球海气耦合模式长期积分所给出的资料,分析了冬季北太平洋海表湍流热通量（潜热和感热）异常及其对海表温度（SST）异常的影响,并比较了海表热通量诸分量和海洋内部的动力学过程对SST变化的相对重要性。结果表明,冬季热带外海洋上的湍流热通量是影响SST的主要因子,但在北太平洋中部海水的平流作用也不可忽视。冬季热带外海洋向大气释放的潜热和感热通量与SST倾向（而不是SST本身）之间存在着显著的相关,这同Cayan和Reynolds等利用COADS资料和NCEP资料同化模式分析的结果是一致的。模式诊断的结果支持这样一种看法：和热带海洋不同,冬季热带外海洋上的海气相互作用主要地表现为大气对海洋的强迫作用,而不是相反。模式给出的SST倾向的第一个EOF分量及其与海平面气压场的相关特征同Wallace等从观测资料分析所得到的结果是一致的;进一步的分析表明：在冬季北太平洋的大部分区域（特别是西太平洋）,大尺度大气环流异常在很大程度上决定着SST的异常,而这种决定作用正是通过它对湍流热通量的强烈影响来实现的。     

On decadal-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions in the extended ECHAM1/LSG climate simulation

 The last 810 years of a control integration with the ECHAM1/LSG coupled model are used to clarify the nature of the ocean-atmosphere interactions at low frequencies in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. To a first approximation, the atmosphere acts as a white noise forcing and the ocean responds as a passive integrator. The sea surface temperature (SST) variability primarily results from short time scale fluctuations in surface heat exchanges and Ekman currents, and the former also damp the SST anomalies after they are generated. The thermocline variability is primarily driven by Ekman pumping. Because the heat, momentum, and vorticity fluxes at the sea surface are correlated in space and time, the SST variability is directly linked to that in the ocean interior. The SST is also modulated by the wind-driven geostrophic fluctuations, resulting in persistent correlation with the thermocline changes and a slight low-frequency redness of the SST spectra. The main dynamics are similar in the two oceans, although in the North Pacific the SST variability is more strongly influenced by advection changes and the oceanic time scales are larger. A maximum covariance analysis based on singular value decomposition in lead and lag conditions indicates that some of the main modes of atmospheric variability in the two oceans are sustained by a very weak positive feedback between the atmosphere, SST, and the strength of the subtropical and subpolar gyres. In addition, in the North Atlantic the main surface pressure mode has a small quasi-oscillatory component at 6-year period, and advective resonance occurs for SST around 10-year period, both periods being also singled out by multichannel singular spectrum analysis. The ocean-atmosphere coupling is however much too weak to redden the tropospheric spectra or create anything more than tiny spectral peaks, so that the atmospheric and oceanic variability is dominated in both ocean sectors by the one-way interactions. Received: 2 April 1999 / Accepted: 14 October 1999     

Interannual variability of the South Pacific Ocean in observations and simulated by the NCEP Climate Forecast System,version 2

The mechanism of the South Pacific Ocean Dipole (SPOD) mode is examined, using a 50-year simulation of the Climate Forecast System, version 2 (CFSv2) and 50-year observation-based ocean–atmosphere analyses (1961–2010). It is shown that the SPOD, a sea surface temperatures (SST) seesaw between the subtropics and extratropics, is the dominant mode of the interannual variability in the South Pacific in both observations and CFSv2 simulation. CFSv2 also reproduces the seasonal phase-locking of the observed SPOD, with the anomaly pattern developing in austral spring, peaking in summer, and decaying in autumn. Composite analyses based on both observational and model data suggest that in the warm phase of SPOD, positive SST anomaly (SSTA) is initiated by weakened westerly winds over the central South Pacific in austral spring, which suppress the surface evaporative heat loss and reduce the oceanic mixed layer depth, both contributing to the SST warming. The wind-SST-mixed layer anomalies then evolve coherently over the next two seasons while the cold SSTA develops to the north. The wind perturbations are in turn a response to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which forces an atmospheric planetary wave train, the Pacific-South American pattern, emanating from an anomalous heat source in the tropical western Pacific. Moreover, SPOD is significantly correlated with the southern annular mode (SAM) while the latter is also significantly correlated with the ENSO index. This suggests that ENSO’s influence on the SPOD may be partially conveyed through SAM.     

Assessing the Quality of Regional Ocean Reanalysis Data from ENSO Signals

The quality of regional ocean reanalysis data for “the joining area of Asia and the Indian-Pacific Ocean (AIPO)” has been assessed from the perspective of ENSO-related ocean signals. The results derived from the AIPO reanalysis, including SST, sea surface height (SSH), and subsurface ocean temperature and currents, are compared with those of Hadley Center Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature (HadISST) data set and Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) reanalysis data. Both the spatial pattern and the characteristics of evolution of the ENSO-related ocean temperature anomalies are well reproduced by the AIPO reanalysis data. The physical processes proposed to explain the life cycle of ENSO, including the delayed oscillator mechanism, recharge-discharge mechanism, and the zonal advection feedback, are reasonably represented in this dataset. However, the westward Rossby wave signal in 1992 is not obvious in the AIPO data, and the magnitude of the heat content anomalies is different from that of the SODA data. The reason for the discrepancies may lie in the different models and methods for data assimilation and differences in wind stress forcing. The results demonstrate the high reliability of the AIPO reanalysis data in describing ENSO signals, implying its potential application value in ENSO-related studies.     

南印度洋偶极子的变化特征及其与ENSO事件的联系

利用Hadley Center逐月海温资料以及NCEP/NCAR逐月风场、海平面气压场等资料探讨了南印度洋偶极子(Southern Indian Ocean Dipole,SIOD)的变化特征及其与ENSO事件的联系。结果表明:1)发生在南半球副热带印度洋地区的海温异常西南—东北反相的南印度洋偶极子现象,具有明显的季节锁相特征:10—12月发生发展,次年1—3月发展成熟达到盛期,4—6月减弱消亡;SIOD的形成主要受大尺度大气环流的影响,马斯克林高压以及澳大利亚低(高)压位置和强度的变化引起的副热带印度洋海表面风场的异常,影响了海温的变化,进而形成SIOD。2)南半球副热带印度洋地区的海温变化与赤道中东太平洋地区海温异常密切联系,前冬ENSO事件与SIOD有显著的负相关关系,大多数正SIOD发生在La Ni?a事件之后,大多数负SIOD发生在El Ni?o事件之后;也存在部分SIOD事件的发生既不伴随La Ni?a现象,也不伴随El Ni?o现象。3)ENSO事件产生的异常垂直运动和赤道异常纬向风对南半球副热带印度洋地区的海平面气压以及海表面风场的强度和位置的变化有重要作用,可以分别影响SIOD东西极子的演变,进而对SIOD产生影响。4)SIOD事件也可单独发生,一般负事件比正事件早一个月发生,同时由于没有ENSO事件的作用,海温异常反相的现象不能持续,单独发生的SIOD事件生命期较短。     

Mechanisms of tropical Pacific interannual-to-decadal variability in the ARPEGE/ORCA global coupled model

Spatial and temporal structures of interannual-to-decadal variability in the tropical Pacific Ocean are investigated using results from a global atmosphere–ocean coupled general circulation model. The model produces quite realistic mean state characteristics, despite a sea surface temperature cold bias and a thermocline that is shallower than observations in the western Pacific. The periodicity and spatial patterns of the modelled El Niño Southern Oscillations (ENSO) compare well with those observed over the last 100 years, although the quasi-biennial timescale is dominant. Lag-regression analysis between the mean zonal wind stress and the 20°C isotherm depth suggests that the recently proposed recharge-oscillator paradigm is operating in the model. Decadal thermocline variability is characterized by enhanced variance over the western tropical South Pacific (~7°S). The associated subsurface temperature variability is primarily due to adiabatic displacements of the thermocline as a whole, arising from Ekman pumping anomalies located in the central Pacific, south of the equator. Related wind anomalies appear to be caused by SST anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific. This quasi-decadal variability has a timescale between 8 years and 20 years. The relationship between this decadal tropical mode and the low-frequency modulation of ENSO variance is also discussed. Results question the commonly accepted hypothesis that the low-frequency modulation of ENSO is due to decadal changes of the mean state characteristics.     

Understanding the SAM influence on the South Pacific ENSO teleconnection

The relationship between the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode (SAM) is examined, with the goal of understanding how various strong SAM events modulate the ENSO teleconnection to the South Pacific (45°–70°S, 150°–70°W). The focus is on multi-month, multi-event variations during the last 50 years. A significant (p < 0.10) relationship is observed, most marked during the austral summer and in the 1970s and 1990s. In most cases, the significant relationship is brought about by La Niña (El Niño) events occurring with positive (negative) phases of the SAM more often than expected by chance. The South Pacific teleconnection magnitude is found to be strongly dependent on the SAM phase. Only when ENSO events occur with a weak SAM or when a La Niña (El Niño) occurs with a positive (negative) SAM phase are significant South Pacific teleconnections found. This modulation in the South Pacific ENSO teleconnection is directly tied to the interaction of the anomalous ENSO and SAM transient eddy momentum fluxes. During La Niña/SAM+ and El Niño/SAM? combinations, the anomalous transient momentum fluxes in the Pacific act to reinforce the circulation anomalies in the midlatitudes, altering the circulation in such a way to maintain the ENSO teleconnections. In La Niña/SAM? and El Niño/SAM+ cases, the anomalous transient eddies oppose each other in the midlatitudes, overall acting to reduce the magnitude of the high latitude ENSO teleconnection.