Nonlinear interdecadal changes of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Nonlinear interdecadal changes in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon are investigated using several tools: a nonlinear canonical correlation analysis (NLCCA) method based on neural networks, a hybrid coupled model, and the delayed oscillator theory. The leading NLCCA mode between the tropical Pacific wind stress (WS) and sea surface temperature (SST) reveals notable interdecadal changes of ENSO behaviour before and after the mid 1970s climate regime shift, with greater nonlinearity found during 1981–99 than during 1961–75. Spatial asymmetry (for both SST and WS anomalies) between warm El Niño and cool La Niña events was significantly enhanced in the later period. During 1981–99, the location of the equatorial easterly anomalies was unchanged from the earlier period, but in the opposite ENSO phase, the westerly anomalies were shifted eastward by up to 25°. According to the delayed oscillator theory, such an eastward shift would lengthen the duration of the warm events by up to 45%, but leave the duration of the cool events unchanged. Supporting evidence was found from a hybrid coupled model built with the Lamont dynamical ocean model coupled to a statistical atmospheric model consisting of either the leading NLCCA or CCA mode.     

Numerical simulations of mesoscale flood environment

Summary The transition from a cold to a warm state of the E1 Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle is studied using Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Sets (COADS) for the period 1950–1992.The onset of El Niño (November to December of the year preceding the El Niño) is characterized by an occurrence of minimum sea-level pressure anomalies in the subtropics around the node line of the Southern Oscillation. This pressure fall favors the formation of the anomalous cyclonic circulations over the western Pacific and leads to the establishment of anomalous westerlies in the western equatorial Pacific during the boreal spring of the El Niño year. The westerly anomalies then intensify and propagate into the central Pacific by the end of the El Niño year. This is an essential feature of the development of a basin-wide warming.It is argued that the development of the equatorial westerly anomalies over the western Pacific may result from the thermodynamic coupling between the atmosphere and ocean. In boreal winter and spring the mean zonal winds change from westerly to casterly over the western equatorial Pacific. A moderate equatorial westerly anomaly initially imposed on such a mean state may create eastward SST gradients via changing rates of evaporational cooling and turbulent mixing. The equatorial SST gradients would, in turn, induce differential heating and zonal pressure gradients which reinforce the westerly anomalies. The feedback between the eastward SST gradients and westerly anomalies promotes the eastward propagation of the westerly anomalies.With 9 Figures     

Modes of variability of global sea surface temperature,free atmosphere temperature and oceanic surface energy flux

Monthly mean sea surface temperature (SST), free air temperature from satellite microwave sounding units (MSU) and oceanic surface energy fluxes are subjected to empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis for a common decade to investigate the physical relationships involved. The first seasonal modes of surface solar energy flux and SST show similar inter-hemispheric patterns with an annual cycle. Solar flux appears to control this pattern of SST. The first seasonal mode of MSU is similar with, additionally, land-sea differences; MSU is apparently partly controlled by absorption of solar near-infrared radiation and partly by sensible heat from the land surface. The second and third seasonal eigenvector of SST and solar flux exhibit semi-annual oscillations associated with a pattern of cloudiness in the subtropics accompanying the translation of the Hadley cell rising motion between the hemispheres. The second seasonal mode of MSU is dominated by an El Niño signal. The first nonseasonal EOFs of SST and solar flux exhibit El Niño characteristics with the solar pattern being governed by west-to-east translation of a Walker cell type pattern. The first non-seasonal EOF of MSU shows a tropical strip pattern for the El Niño mode, which is well correlated with the latent heat fluxes in the tropical east Pacific but not in the tropical west Pacific. Two possible explanations are: an increase in subsidence throughout the tropical strip driven by extra evaporation in the tropical east Pacific and consequent additional latent heat liberation; a decrease of meridional heat flux out of the tropics.     

ENSO发展和衰亡阶段中非线性项的作用

利用哈得来中心海表温度（HadISST）和美国马里兰大学海洋同化（Simple Ocean Data Assimilation,SODA 2.2.4）数据集,分析了1979-2015年赤道太平洋地区海表温度异常的偏度特征;并通过诊断混合层热量收支平衡方程着重探讨了非线性项在不同类型ENSO发展衰亡过程中起的不同作用。研究结果表明,中部型厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜事件的偏度很弱,且符号相反、强度相当,而东部型厄尔尼诺的偏度为很强的正值,即ENSO的强度非对称性主要来自东部型厄尔尼诺的贡献,中部型厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜的海表温度异常呈现准对称特征。在ENSO事件的发展阶段,非线性项对东部型厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜均有很强的正贡献,而对中部型厄尔尼诺的正贡献相对较弱,这会促进东部型厄尔尼诺强度的增强而抑制拉尼娜振幅的发展,从而有利于ENSO强度非对称性的产生;在ENSO事件的衰亡阶段,非线性项对拉尼娜维持正贡献但强度大为减弱,对东部型厄尔尼诺和中部型厄尔尼诺的衰减则分别起促进和抑制作用,这可能是东部型厄尔尼诺衰减速度较快而中部型厄尔尼诺衰减速度较慢的重要原因之一。      

Impacts of different types of El Niño and La Niña on northern tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature

The present study investigates the dependence of the northern tropical Atlantic (NTA) sea surface temperature (SST) response to El Niño and La Niña events on the decay time and amplitude of tropical Pacific SST anomalies. It is found that the NTA SST response to La Niña events displays a notable difference between late and early decaying events, similar to that in response to El Niño events, but with a weaker signal. Latent heat flux is a dominant term in the NTA SST change in preceding winter-early spring in both El Niño and La Niña events and in the difference of the NTA SST anomaly between late and early decaying El Niño and La Niña events. The zonal and meridional advections have an opposite effect on the NTA SST warming in late decaying El Niño events. Although the warming in the NTA region is similar in late decaying moderate and strong El Niño events, the distribution of the SST anomalies in the mid-latitude North Atlantic Ocean shows a notable difference between the two types of late decaying El Niño events. The SST anomalies also display difference in the early decaying weak and moderate El Niño events. Surface heat flux differences are largely attributed to wind differences.     

El Niño- or La Niña-like climate change?

The potential for the mean climate of the tropical Pacific to shift to more El Niño-like conditions as a result of human induced climate change is subject to a considerable degree of uncertainty. The complexity of the feedback processes, the wide range of responses of different atmosphere–ocean global circulation models (AOGCMs) and difficulties with model simulation of present day El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO), all complicate the picture. By examining the components of the climate-change response that projects onto the model pattern of ENSO variability in 20 AOGCMs submitted to the coupled model inter-comparison project (CMIP), it is shown that large-scale coupled atmosphere–ocean feedbacks associated with the present day ENSO also operate on longer climate-change time scales. By linking the realism of the simulation of present day ENSO variability in the models to their patterns of future mean El Niño-like or La Niña-like climate change, it is found that those models that have the largest ENSO-like climate change also have the poorest simulation of ENSO variability. The most likely scenario (p=0.59) in a model-skill-weighted histogram of CMIP models is for no trend towards either mean El Niño-like or La Niña-like conditions. However, there remains a small probability (p=0.16) for a change to El Niño-like conditions of the order of one standard El Niño per century in the 1% per year CO₂ increase scenario.     

Sea surface temperature associations with the late Indian summer monsoon

Recent gridded and historical data are used in order to assess the relationships between interannual variability of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly patterns over the Indian and Pacific oceans. Interannual variability of ISM rainfall and dynamical indices for the traditional summer monsoon season (June–September) are strongly influenced by rainfall and circulation anomalies observed during August and September, or the late Indian summer monsoon (LISM). Anomalous monsoons are linked to well-defined LISM rainfall and large-scale circulation anomalies. The east-west Walker and local Hadley circulations fluctuate during the LISM of anomalous ISM years. LISM circulation is weakened and shifted eastward during weak ISM years. Therefore, we focus on the predictability of the LISM. Strong (weak) (L)ISMs are preceded by significant positive (negative) SST anomalies in the southeastern subtropical Indian Ocean, off Australia, during boreal winter. These SST anomalies are mainly linked to south Indian Ocean dipole events, studied by Besera and Yamagata (2001) and to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. These SST anomalies are highly persistent and affect the northwestward translation of the Mascarene High from austral to boreal summer. The southeastward (northwestward) shift of this subtropical high associated with cold (warm) SST anomalies off Australia causes a weakening (strengthening) of the whole monsoon circulation through a modulation of the local Hadley cell during the LISM. Furthermore, it is suggested that the Mascarene High interacts with the underlying SST anomalies through a positive dynamical feedback mechanism, maintaining its anomalous position during the LISM. Our results also explain why a strong ISM is preceded by a transition in boreal spring from an El Niño to a La Niña state in the Pacific and vice versa. An El Niño event and the associated warm SST anomalies over the southeastern Indian Ocean during boreal winter may play a key role in the development of a strong ISM by strengthening the local Hadley circulation during the LISM. On the other hand, a developing La Niña event in boreal spring and summer may also enhance the east–west Walker circulation and the monsoon as demonstrated in many previous studies.     

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).     

ENSO simulation in coupled ocean-atmosphere models: are the current models better?

Maintaining a multi-model database over a generation or more of model development provides an important framework for assessing model improvement. Using control integrations, we compare the simulation of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and its extratropical impact, in models developed for the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report with models developed in the late 1990s [the so-called Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-2 (CMIP2) models]. The IPCC models tend to be more realistic in representing the frequency with which ENSO occurs, and they are better at locating enhanced temperature variability over the eastern Pacific Ocean. When compared with reanalyses, the IPCC models have larger pattern correlations of tropical surface air temperature than do the CMIP2 models during the boreal winter peak phase of El Niño. However, for sea-level pressure and precipitation rate anomalies, a clear separation in performance between the two vintages of models is not as apparent. The strongest improvement occurs for the modelling groups whose CMIP2 model tended to have the lowest pattern correlations with observations. This has been checked by subsampling the multi-century IPCC simulations in a manner to be consistent with the single 80-year time segment available from CMIP2. Our results suggest that multi-century integrations may be required to statistically assess model improvement of ENSO. The quality of the El Niño precipitation composite is directly related to the fidelity of the boreal winter precipitation climatology, highlighting the importance of reducing systematic model error. Over North America distinct improvement of El Niño forced boreal winter surface air temperature, sea-level pressure, and precipitation rate anomalies to occur in the IPCC models. This improvement is directly proportional to the skill of the tropical El Niño forced precipitation anomalies.     

Simulation of the response of the North Pacific Ocean to the anomalous atmospheric circulation associated with El Niño

During El Niño events when positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies form in the equatorial Pacific, SST anomalies also tend to develop in the North Pacific. This study attempts to model and explain the large-scale features of the observed SST anomaly field in the North Pacific during the fall and winter of the El Niño year. The experiment design consists of a mixed layer ocean model of the North Pacific which is forced by atmospheric surface fields from two sets of Community Climate Model (CCM) integrations: the El Niño set with prescribed positive SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific; and the control set which is obtained from an extended CCM integration with prescribed climatological SSTs. The response of the midlatitude ocean to atmospheric surface fields associated with El Niño is obtained by compositing each set of model integrations (El Niño and Control) and then taking the difference between the composites. The ocean model is able to reproduce the general features of the observed midlatitude SST anomaly pattern: warm water in the northeast Pacific and an elliptically shaped cold pool in the central Pacific. In these regions, a large fraction of the temperature anomalies are significant at the 95% level as indicated by a two tailed t-test. The ocean temperature anomalies simulated by the model are primarily caused by changes in the sensible and latent heat flux and to a lesser extent the longwave radiation flux. Entrainment of cold water from below the mixed layer also influences ocean temperatures. However, the entrainment anomaly pattern has a complex spatial structure which does not always coincide with the simulated mixed layer temperature anomalies.This paper was presented at the International Conference on Modelling of Global Climate Change and Variability, held in Hamburg 11–15 September 1989 under the auspices of the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Guest Editor for these papers is Dr. L. Dümenil     

CMIP5多模式模拟两类El Niño海表盐度分布及与降水的关系

利用CMIP5提供的25个工业革命前控制试验（piControl）模拟数据评估了热带太平洋两类El Ni?o（即东部EP和中部CP型El Ni?o）的海表盐度（SSS）空间结构差异及其与海表温度（SST）和降水的关系。结果表明:（1）大部分模式能够模拟出EP和CP型空间结构,两类El Ni?o中的SST、降水和SSS的空间技巧评分依次减小,其中,EP型SST和降水水平分布的模拟能力强于CP型,SSS则为CP型强于EP型,CP型模拟的SST、SSS和降水异常中心位置较EP型偏西且强度偏弱;（2）CP型SST、降水和SSS三者空间分布的线性一致性比EP型好,即在CP型中,SST影响降水,进而影响SSS,同时SSS对SST调制的反馈机制较显著,而对于EP型,由于海洋水平平流和非局地效应等因素,使得SST与SSS空间对应较差;（3）依据多模式模拟的SSS空间技巧评分高低将CMIP5模式分为两类,技巧评分低（高）的模式模拟的SST、SSS和降水异常值的中心位置偏西（偏东）,引起中心位置偏移的原因与模式模拟赤道太平洋冷舌的位置有关,即赤道太平洋冷舌西伸显著,导致发生El Ni?o时SST异常变暖西伸显著,进而使得降水异常和SSS异常位置偏西。同时,技巧评分低的模式还易出现向东南延伸的负SSS异常,原因是双赤道辐合带的东南分支过于明显,即降水偏多,导致SSS偏淡。SSS变化会影响ENSO的发生发展。因此,探讨两类El Ni?o盐度分布的差异及相关物理场的关系,为提高模式的气候模拟和预测提供有益的借鉴。     

Role of the southern Indian Ocean in the transitions of the monsoon-ENSO system during recent decades

The focus of this study is to document the possible role of the southern subtropical Indian Ocean in the transitions of the monsoon-ENSO system during recent decades. Composite analyses of sea surface temperature (SST) fields prior to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian summer monsoon (ISM), Australian summer monsoon (AUSM), tropical Indian Ocean dipole (TIOD) and Maritime Continent rainfall (MCR) indices reveal the southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO) SSTs during late boreal winter as the unique common SST precursor of these various phenomena after the 1976–1977 regime shift. Weak (strong) ISMs and AUSMs, El Niños (La Niñas) and positive (negative) TIOD events are preceded by significant negative (positive) SST anomalies in the SEIO, off Australia during boreal winter. These SST anomalies are mainly linked to subtropical Indian Ocean dipole events, recently studied by Behera and Yamagata (Geophys Res Lett 28:327–330, 2001). A wavelet analysis of a February–March SEIO SST time series shows significant spectral peaks at 2 and 4–8 years time scales as for ENSO, ISM or AUSM indices. A composite analysis with respect to February–March SEIO SSTs shows that cold (warm) SEIO SST anomalies are highly persistent and affect the westward translation of the Mascarene high from austral to boreal summer, inducing a weakening (strengthening) of the whole ISM circulation through a modulation of the local Hadley cell during late boreal summer. At the same time, these subtropical SST anomalies and the associated SEIO anomalous anticyclone may be a trigger for both the wind-evaporation-SST and wind-thermocline-SST positive feedbacks between Australia and Sumatra during boreal spring and early summer. These positive feedbacks explain the extraordinary persistence of the SEIO anomalous anticyclone from boreal spring to fall. Meanwhile, the SEIO anomalous anticyclone favors persistent southeasterly wind anomalies along the west coast of Sumatra and westerly wind anomalies over the western Pacific, which are well-known key factors for the evolution of positive TIOD and El Niño events, respectively. A correlation analysis supports these results and shows that SEIO SSTs in February–March has higher predictive skill than other well-established ENSO predictors for forecasting Niño3.4 SST at the end of the year. This suggests again that SEIO SST anomalies exert a fundamental influence on the transitions of the whole monsoon-ENSO system during recent decades.     

ENSO与北半球冬季大气环流异常年代际关系的数值模拟

利用NCAR/CCM3大气环流模式,模拟不同海温背景场强迫下,北半球冬季大气环流对ENSO事件的响应。结果表明,模式能够模拟出不同海温背景场下,北半球冬季大气环流对ENSO事件的不同响应,模拟结果与诊断结果基本一致。在20世纪70年代末之后的平均海温背景场强迫下,El Nio对阿留申低压的加强作用比70年代末之前更明显,而ENSO暖位相对蒙古高压的作用则由70年代末之前的轻微减弱变为明显加强。虽然70年代末以后ENSO事件的强度比70年代末之前有所增大,但ENSO对东亚大槽和东亚冬季风的减弱作用反而不再那么明显;同时在高空风场中,由ENSO激发出的PNA型异常环流在70年代末以后明显加强。     

Change of El Niño and La Niña amplitude asymmetry around 1980

Amplitude of El Niño and La Niña was significantly different during 1980–2016 but almost same during 1958–1979. The cause of this interdecadal change is investigated through an oceanic mixed-layer heat budget analysis. It was found that this interdecadal change was primarily attributed to the distinctive effects of nonlinear zonal temperature advection between the two periods. During 1980–2016 nonlinear zonal advection, working together with nonlinear meridional advection, contributes to the El Niño and La Niña amplitude asymmetry. During 1958–1979 the nonlinear zonal advection had an opposite effect. The difference in the nonlinear zonal advection between the two interdecadal periods was caused by distinctive longitudinal locations of El Niño centers. Maximum SST anomaly (SSTA) centers were confined near the coast of South America (east of 90° W) during the first period but appear near 110° W during the second period. Because of this difference, an anomalous eastward ocean surface current (caused by a positive thermocline depth anomaly during El Niño) would generate a negative (positive) nonlinear zonal advection before (after) 1980. The distinctive longitudinal locations of El Niño centers are possibly caused by the interdecadal changes of mean thermocline and high-frequency wind variability over the equatorial western-central Pacific. A hypothesis was put forth to understand distinctive initiation locations between El Niño and La Niña.     

东太平洋暖池及经向风异常在ENSO事件发生、发展过程中的作用

利用1982～1999期间LDEO海表温度资料和NCEP/NCAR再分析风场资料,分析东太平洋暖池及经向风异常与ENSO事件的可能关系。结果表明,东太平洋暖池气候平均海表温度存在明显的季节变化特征,且与El Niño事件春季发生、夏季发展、秋季达到成熟及冬季衰亡的成长过程非常相似。经向风异常及其散度与ENSO事件密切相关。综合考虑,提出了东太平洋暖池及经向风异常（北风距平及经向风距平散度辐合）对ENSO事件发生、发展作用的概念模型:北风距平爆发通过产生北风吹洋流的作用,将东太平洋暖池暖水由北向南输送至赤道附近,从而有利于Ni?o3区海表温度上升;几乎与此同时,东太平洋暖池赤道上经向风距平散度辐合不仅能导致暖水在赤道附近堆积,而且辐合的风场对赤道附近的冷上升流有抑制作用,从而有利于Niño3区海表温度的增加,上述增温因素的叠加作用有（不）利于El Niño（La Niña）事件的发生、发展。进一步分析表明,东太平洋暖池及经向风异常仅对El Niño（La Niña）事件发生、发展起促进（抑制）作用而不起决定作用。将东太平洋暖池、经向风异常与西太平洋暖池、西风距平结合起来一并考虑,完善了El Niño事件发生、发展机制。最后,初步分析1980、1990年代El Niño事件特性差异的可能原因。     

Dynamics of the Indian monsoon and ENSO relationships in the SINTEX global coupled model

This paper uses recent gridded climatological data and a coupled general circulation model (GCM) simulation in order to assess the relationships between the interannual variability of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The focus is on the dynamics of the ISM-ENSO relationships and the ability of the state-of-the-art coupled GCM to reproduce the complex lead-lag relationships between the ISM and the ENSO. The coupled GCM is successful in reproducing the ISM circulation and rainfall climatology in the Indian areas even though the entire ISM circulation is weaker relative to that observed. In both observations and in the simulation, the ISM rainfall anomalies are significantly associated with fluctuations of the Hadley circulation and the 200 hPa zonal wind anomalies over the Indian Ocean. A quasi-biennial time scale is found to structure the ISM dynamical and rainfall indices in both cases. Moreover, ISM indices have a similar interannual variability in the simulation and observations. The coupled model is less successful in simulating the annual cycle in the tropical Pacific. A major model bias is the eastward displacement of the western North Pacific inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), near the dateline, during northern summer. This introduces a strong semiannual component in Pacific Walker circulation indices and central equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures. Another weakness of the coupled model is a less-than-adequate simulation of the Southern Oscillation due to an erroneous eastward extension of the Southern Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ) year round. Despite these problems, the coupled model captures some aspects of the interannual variability in the tropical Pacific. ENSO events are phase-locked with the annual cycle as observed, but are of reduced amplitude relative to the observations. Wavelet analysis of the model Niño34 time series shows enhanced power in the 2–4 year band, as compared to the 2–8 year range for observations during the 1950–2000 period. The ISM circulation is weakened during ENSO years in both the simulation and the observations. However, the model fails to reproduce the lead-lag relationship between the ISM and Niño34 sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Furthermore, lag correlations show that the delayed response of the wind stress over the central Pacific to ISM variability is insignificant in the simulation. These features are mainly due to the unrealistic interannual variability simulated by the model in the western North Pacific. The amplitude and even the sign of the simulated surface and upper level wind anomalies in these areas are not consistent with observed patterns during weak/strong ISM years. The ISM and western North Pacific ITCZ fluctuate independently in the observations, while they are negatively and significantly correlated in the simulation. This isolates the Pacific Walker circulation from the ISM forcing. These systematic errors may also contribute to the reduced amplitude of ENSO variability in the coupled simulation. Most of the unrealistic features in simulating the Indo-Pacific interannual variability may be traced back to systematic errors in the base state of the coupled model.     

FGOALS-g模式关于ENSO事件的春季预报障碍现象

Using the sea surface temperature (SST) predicted for the equatorial Pacific Ocean by the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model-gamil (FGOALS-g), an analysis of the prediction errors was performed for the seasonally dependent predictability of SST anomalies both for neutral years and for the growth/decay phase of El Niño/La Niña events. The study results indicated that for the SST predictions relating to the growth phase and the decay phase of El Niño events, the prediction errors have a seasonally dependent evolution. The largest increase in errors occurred in the spring season, which indicates that a prominent spring predictability barrier (SPB) occurs during an El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) warming episode. Furthermore, the SPB associated with the growth-phase prediction is higher than that associated with the decay-phase prediction. However, for the neutral years and for the growth and decay phases of La Niña events, the SPB phenomenon was less prominent. These results indicate that the SPB phenomenon depends extensively on the ENSO events themselves. In particular, the SPB depends on the phases of the ENSO events. These results may provide useful knowledge for improving ENSO forecasting.     

ENSO对印度洋偶极子非对称性的影响及机制研究北大核心

利用海表温度再分析资料、NCEP/NCAR大气环流再分析资料以及MPI-ESM1-2-LR气候模式PI-Control试验输出数据等,通过对不同强度的厄尔尼诺-南方涛动(El Nino-Southern Oscillation, ENSO)事件所对应的印度洋偶极子(Indian Ocean Dipole, IOD)事件的分析,探讨了ENSO对IOD偏度的调制作用。结果表明,伴随着赤道中东太平洋明显的正海温偏度,秋季印度洋海表温度存在西正东负的偏度。IOD与ENSO之间呈现出较强的非线性关系,且大部分强的正IOD事件对应着强El Nino事件。强El Nino位相下,IOD事件相关的海温与风场表现出很强的响应,强于La Nina事件产生的响应,表现为强的非对称性;相比较而言,弱El Nino事件与La Nina事件下引起的印度洋海温和风场的强度相当,并没有显著的非对称性。因此,ENSO可通过激发非对称的大气遥相关对IOD强度非对称性产生调制作用,印度洋海表温度偏度很大程度上是由强El Nino事件导致的强正IOD事件所贡献。     

两类厄尔尼诺事件发展年秋季印度洋海温异常特征对比

基于1951—2010年逐月海气多要素观测资料,对比分析了两类厄尔尼诺事件发展年秋季印度洋的海温异常及大气响应特征,探讨了印度洋偶极子的发生与两类厄尔尼诺事件特征的可能联系。结果表明,两类厄尔尼诺事件的发展年均会出现印度洋偶极子,但出现的概率不同:大多数东部型厄尔尼诺事件都会伴有正位相印度洋偶极子发生;而仅一半的中部型厄尔尼诺事件期间会出现正位相印度洋偶极子的异常海温型,且强度较弱。从印度洋偶极子与两类厄尔尼诺事件的物理联系上看,东部型厄尔尼诺事件期间,印度洋偶极子的发生与其强度联系密切:印度洋偶极子发生在东部型厄尔尼诺事件较强期间,两者通过海洋大陆的异常强下沉运动及大范围负异常降水相联系;东部型厄尔尼诺事件偏弱时并无印度洋偶极子出现,海洋大陆异常下沉运动及负异常降水很弱。然而,中部型厄尔尼诺事件期间印度洋偶极子的发生与其强度并无显著的关系,而与太平洋高海温区的位置存在一定的可能联系:在有印度洋偶极子发生的中部型厄尔尼诺事件发展年秋季,热带太平洋异常高海温区的位置相对偏东,海洋大陆出现显著下沉运动和大范围负异常降水,热带东印度洋为大范围强异常东风控制;但无印度洋偶极子发生的中部型厄尔尼诺事件时,热带太平洋高海温区位置相对偏西,极弱的海洋大陆下沉支对热带印度洋异常海温作用非常有限。     

Relationships between intraseasonal rainfall variability of coastal Tanzania and ENSO

Summary The influence of ENSO on intraseasonal variability over the Tanzanian coast during the short (OND) and long (MAM) rainy seasons is examined. In particular, variability in the rainfall onset, peak and end dates as well as dry spells are considered. In general, El Niño appears to be associated with above average rainfall while La Niña is associated with below average rainfall over the northern Tanzanian coast during OND, and to lesser extent MAM. Over the southern coast, the ENSO impacts are less coherent and this region appears to be a transition zone between the opposite signed impacts over equatorial East and southern Africa. The increased north coast rainfall during El Niño years is generally due to a longer than normal rainfall season associated with early onset while reduced rainfall during La Niña years tends to be associated with a late onset, and thus a shorter than average rainfall season. Wet conditions during El Niño years were associated with enhanced convection and low-level easterly anomalies over the equatorial western Indian Ocean implying enhanced advection of moisture from the Indian Ocean while the reverse is true for La Niña years. Hovmöller plots for OLR and zonal wind at 850 hPa and 200 hPa show eastward, westward propagating and stationary features over the Indian Ocean. It was observed that the propagating features were absent during strong El Niño years. Based on the Hovmöller results, it is observed that the convective oscillations over the Tanzanian coast have some of the characteristic features of intraseasonal oscillations occurring elsewhere in the tropics.