ENSO variability and the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) encompasses variability in both the eastern and western tropical Pacific. During the warm phase of ENSO, the eastern tropical Pacific is characterized by equatorial positive sea surface temperature (SST) and negative sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies, while the western tropical Pacific is marked by off-equatorial negative SST and positive SLP anomalies. Corresponding to this distribution are equatorial westerly wind anomalies in the central Pacific and equatorial easterly wind anomalies in the far western Pacific. Occurrence of ENSO has been explained as either a self-sustained, naturally oscillatory mode of the coupled ocean–atmosphere system or a stable mode triggered by stochastic forcing. Whatever the case, ENSO involves the positive ocean–atmosphere feedback hypothesized by Bjerknes. After an El Niño reaches its mature phase, negative feedbacks are required to terminate growth of the mature El Niño anomalies in the central and eastern Pacific. Four requisite negative feedbacks have been proposed: reflected Kelvin waves at the ocean western boundary, a discharge process due to Sverdrup transport, western Pacific wind-forced Kelvin waves, and anomalous zonal advections. These negative feedbacks may work together for terminating El Niño, with their relative importance being time-dependent.ENSO variability is most pronounced along the equator and the coast of Ecuador and Peru. However, the eastern tropical Pacific also includes a warm pool north of the equator where important variability occurs. Seasonally, ocean advection seems to play an important role for SST variations of the eastern Pacific warm pool. Interannual variability in the eastern Pacific warm pool may be largely due to a direct oceanic connection with the ENSO variability at the equator. Variations in temperature, stratification, insolation, and productivity associated with ENSO have implications for phytoplankton productivity and for fish, birds, and other organisms in the region. Long-term changes in ENSO variability may be occurring and are briefly discussed. This paper is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific.     

Unusual large-scale phytoplankton blooms in the equatorial Pacific

Unusual large-scale accumulations of phytoplankton occurred across 10,000 km of the equatorial Pacific during the 1998 transition from El Niño to La Niña. The forcing and dynamics of these phytoplankton blooms were studied using satellite-based observations of sea surface height, temperature and chlorophyll, and mooring-based observations of winds, hydrography and ocean currents. During the bloom period, the thermocline (nutricline) was anomalously shallow across the equatorial Pacific. The relative importance of processes that enhanced nutrient flux into the euphotic zone differed between the western and eastern regions of the blooms. In the western bloom region, the important vertical processes were turbulent vertical mixing and wind-driven upwelling. In contrast, the important processes in the eastern bloom region were wave-forced shoaling of nutrient source waters directly into the euphotic zone, along-isopycnal upwelling, and wind-driven upwelling. Advection by the Equatorial Undercurrent spread the largest bloom 4500 km east of where it began, and advection by meridional currents of tropical instability waves transported the bloom hundreds of kilometers north and south of the equator. Many processes influenced the intricate development of these massive biological events. Diverse observations and novel analysis methods of this work advance the conceptual framework for understanding the complex dynamics and ecology of the equatorial Pacific.     

The circulation of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

During the 1950s and 1960s, an extensive field study and interpretive effort was made by researchers, primarily at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to sample and understand the physical oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific. That work was inspired by the valuable fisheries of the region, the recent discovery of the equatorial undercurrent, and the growing realization of the importance of the El Niño phenomenon. Here we review what was learned in that effort, and integrate those findings with work published since then as well as additional diagnoses based on modern data sets.Unlike the central Pacific, where the winds are nearly zonal and the ocean properties and circulation are nearly independent of longitude, the eastern tropical Pacific is distinguished by wind forcing that is strongly influenced by the topography of the American continent. Its circulation is characterized by short zonal scales, permanent eddies and significant off-equatorial upwelling. Notably, the Costa Rica Dome and a thermocline bowl to its northwest are due to winds blowing through gaps in the Central American cordillera, which imprint their signatures on the ocean through linear Sverdrup dynamics. Strong annual modulation of the gap winds and the meridional oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone generates a Rossby wave, superimposed on the direct forcing, that results in a southwestward-propagating annual thermocline signal accounting for major features of observed thermocline depth variations, including that of the Costa Rica Dome, the Tehuantepec bowl, and the ridge–trough system of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC). Interannual variability of sea surface temperature (SST) and altimetric sea surface height signals suggests that the strengthening of the NECC observed in the central Pacific during El Niño events continues all the way to the coast, warming SST (by zonal advection) in a wider meridional band than the equatorially trapped thermocline anomalies, and pumping equatorial water poleward along the coast.The South Equatorial Current originates as a combination of equatorial upwelling, mixing and advection from the NECC, and Peru coastal upwelling, but its sources and their variability remain unresolved. Similarly, while much of the Equatorial Undercurrent flows southeast into the Peru Undercurrent and supplies the coastal upwelling, a quantitative assessment is lacking. We are still unable to put together the eastern interconnections among the long zonal currents of the central Pacific.     

Primary production in the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

The eastern tropical Pacific includes 28 million km² of ocean between 23.5°N and S and Central/South America and 140°W, and contains the eastern and equatorial branches of the north and South Pacific subtropical gyres plus two equatorial and two coastal countercurrents. Spatial patterns of primary production are in general determined by supply of macronutrients (nitrate, phosphate) from below the thermocline. Where the thermocline is shallow and intersects the lighted euphotic zone, biological production is enhanced. In the eastern tropical Pacific thermocline depth is controlled by three interrelated processes: a basin-scale east/west thermocline tilt, a basin-scale thermocline shoaling at the gyre margins, and local wind-driven upwelling. These processes regulate supply of nutrient-rich subsurface waters to the euphotic zone, and on their basis we have divided the eastern tropical Pacific into seven main regions. Primary production and its physical and chemical controls are described for each.Enhanced rates of macronutrient supply maintains levels of primary production in the eastern tropical Pacific above those of the oligotrophic subtropical gyres to the north and south. On the other hand lack of the micronutrient iron limits phytoplankton growth (and nitrogen fixation) over large portions of the open-ocean eastern tropical Pacific, depressing rates of primary production and resulting in the so-called high nitrate-low chlorophyll condition. Very high rates of primary production can occur in those coastal areas where both macronutrients and iron are supplied in abundance to surface waters. In these eutrophic coastal areas large phytoplankton cells dominate; conversely, in the open-ocean small cells are dominant. In a ‘shadow zone’ between the subtropical gyres with limited subsurface ventilation, enough production sinks and decays to produce anoxic and denitrified waters which spread beneath very large parts of the eastern tropical Pacific.Seasonal cycles are weak over much of the open-ocean eastern tropical Pacific, although several eutrophic coastal areas do exhibit substantial seasonality. The ENSO fluctuation, however, is an exceedingly important source of interannual variability in this region. El Niño in general results in a depressed thermocline and thus reduced rates of macronutrient supply and primary production. The multi-decadal PDO is likely also an important source of variability, with the ‘El Viejo’ phase of the PDO resulting in warmer and lower nutrient and productivity conditions similar to El Niño.On average the eastern tropical Pacific is moderately productive and, relative to Pacific and global means, its productivity and area are roughly equivalent. For example, it occupies about 18% of the Pacific Ocean by area and accounts for 22–23% of its productivity. Similarly, it occupies about 9% of the global ocean and accounts for 10% of its productivity. While representative, these average values obscure very substantial spatial and temporal variability that characterizes the dynamics of this tropical ocean.     

Changes in the cetacean assemblage of a coastal upwelling ecosystem during El Niño 1997–98 and La Niña 1999

We report results of ecosystem studies in Monterey Bay, California, during the summer upwelling periods, 1996–99, including impacts of El Niño 1997–98 and La Niña 1999. Random-systematic line-transect surveys of marine mammals were conducted monthly from August to November 1996, and from May to November 1997–99. CTDs and zooplankton net tows were conducted opportunistically, and at 10 predetermined locations. Hydroacoustic backscatter was measured continuously while underway to estimate prevalence of zooplankton, with emphasis on euphausiids, a key trophic link between primary production and higher trophic level consumers.The occurrences of several of the California Current’s most common cetaceans varied among years. The assemblage of odontocetes became more diverse during the El Niño with a temporary influx of warm-water species. Densities of cold-temperate Dall’s porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli, were greatest before the onset of El Niño, whereas warm-temperate common dolphins, Delphinus spp., were present only during the warm-water period associated with El Niño. Rorqual densities decreased in August 1997 as euphausiid backscatter was reduced. In 1998, as euphausiid backscatter slowly increased, rorqual densities increased sharply to the greatest observed values. Euphausiid backscatter further increased in 1999, whereas rorqual densities were similar to those observed during 1998. We hypothesize that a dramatic reduction in zooplankton biomass offshore during El Niño 1997–98 led to the concentration of rorquals in the remaining productive coastal upwelling areas, including Monterey Bay. These patterns exemplify short-term responses of cetaceans to large-scale changes in oceanic conditions.     

Oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

This paper is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific, the oceanic region centered on the eastern Pacific warm pool, but also including the equatorial cold tongue and equatorial current system, and summarizes what is known about oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans there. The eastern tropical Pacific supports on the order of 50 species of seabirds and 30 species of cetaceans as regular residents; these include four endemic species, the world’s largest populations for several others, three endemic sub-species, and a multi-species community that is relatively unique to this ecosystem. Three of the meso-scale physical features of the region are particularly significant to seabirds and cetaceans: the Costa Rica Dome for blue whales and short-beaked common dolphins, the Equatorial Front for planktivorous seabirds, and the countercurrent thermocline ridge for flocking seabirds that associate with mixed-species schools of spotted and spinner dolphins and yellowfin tuna. A few qualitative studies of meso- to macro-scale distribution patterns have indicated that some seabirds and cetaceans have species-specific preferences for surface currents. More common are associations with distinct water masses; these relationships have been quantified for a number of species using several different analytical methods. The mechanisms underlying tropical species–habitat relationships are not well understood, in contrast to a number of higher-latitude systems. This may be due to the fact that physical variables have been used as proxies for prey abundance and distribution in species–habitat research in the eastern tropical Pacific.Though seasonal and interannual patterns tend to be complex, species–habitat relationships appear to remain relatively stable over time, and distribution patterns co-vary with patterns of preferred habitat for a number of species. The interactions between seasonal and interannual variation in oceanographic conditions with seasonal patterns in the biology of seabirds and cetaceans may account for some of the complexity in species–habitat relationship patterns.Little work has been done to investigate effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycles on cetaceans, and results of the few studies focusing on oceanic seabirds are complex and not easy to interpret. Although much has been made of the detrimental effects of El Niño events on apex predators, more research is needed to understand the magnitude, and even direction, of these effects on seabirds and cetaceans in space and time.     

Mesozooplankton of the Arabian Sea: Patterns influenced by seasons, upwelling, and oxygen concentrations

The intensive study of the Arabian Sea during the 1990s included mesozooplankton investigations by the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Germany and the United States. Several major discoveries resulted. First, the high biomass of mesozooplankton observed during the Northeast Monsoon season is sustained by primary productivity stimulated by convective mixing and by an active microbial loop. The apparent ‘paradox’ of high standing stocks of mesozooplankton coinciding with low standing stocks of phytoplankton thus was resolved. Second, the Southwest Monsoon (upwelling) season supports a burst of mesozooplankton growth, much of which is exported to the interior of the Arabian Sea by strong currents and eddy activity and to depth at the end of the season when diapause causes at least one very abundant copepod to leave the epipelagic zone. Third, the oxygen minimum zone severely restricts the vertical distribution of mesozooplankton in the eastern region of the Arabian Sea. The copepod that withstands conditions in the OMZ most readily, Pleuromamma indica, has increased in abundance over the past thirty years suggesting the OMZ may have grown in size and/or intensity in that time. Fourth, the Fall Intermonsoon and Northeast Monsoon seasons are characterized everywhere by increased abundance of the cyclopoid copepod genus, Oithona. Abundances of Oithona measured in the 1990s are much higher than those of the 1930s, suggesting food web alterations over the past half-century.     

Biological and chemical consequences of the 1997–1998 El Niño in central California waters

The physical, chemical and biological perturbations in central California waters associated with the strong 1997–1998 El Niño are described and explained on the basis of time series collected from ships, moorings, tide gauges and satellites. The evolution of El Niño off California closely followed the pattern observed in the tropical Pacific. In June 1997 an anomalous influx of warm southerly waters, with weak signatures on coastal sea level and thermocline depth, marked the onset of El Niño in central California. The timing was consistent with propagation from the tropics via the equatorial and coastal wave-guide. By late 1997, the classical stratified ocean condition with a deep thermocline, high sea level, and warm sea surface temperature (SST) commonly associated with El Niño dominated the coastal zone. During the first half of 1998 the core of the California Current, which is normally detected several hundred kilometers from shore as a river of low salinity, low nutrient water, was hugging the coast. High nutrient, productive waters that occur in a north–south band from the coast to approximately 200 km offshore during cool years disappeared during El Niño. The nitrate in surface waters was less than 20% of normal and new production was reduced by close to 70%. The La Niña recovery phase began in the fall of 1998 when SSTs dropped below normal, and ocean productivity rebounded to higher than normal levels. The reduction in coastal California primary productivity associated with El Niño was estimated to be 50 million metric tons of carbon (5×10¹³ g C). This reduction certainly had deleterious effects on zooplankton, fish, and marine mammals. The 1992–1993 El Niño was more moderate than the 1997–1998 event, but because its duration was longer, its overall chemical and biological impact may have been comparable. How strongly the ecosystem responds to El Niño appears related to the longer-term background climatic state of the Pacific Ocean. The 1982–1983 and 1992–1993 El Niños occurred during the warm phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The PDO may have changed sign during the 1997–1998 El Niño, resulting in weaker ecological effects than would otherwise have been predicted based on the strength of the temperature anomaly.     

1997–1998 El Niño off Peru: A numerical study

An eddy-resolving numerical simulation for the Peru–Chile system between 1993 and 2000 is analyzed, mainly for the 1997–1998 El Niño. Atmospheric and lateral oceanic forcings are realistic and contain a wide range of scales from days to interannual. The solution is validated against altimetric observations and the few in situ observations available. The simulated 1997–1998 El Niño closely resembles the real 1997–1998 El Niño in its time sequence of events. The two well-marked, sea-level peaks in May–June and November–December 1997 are reproduced with amplitudes close to those observed. Other sub-periods of the El Niño seem to be captured adequately. Simple dynamical analyses are performed to explain the 1997–1998 evolution of the upwelling in the model. The intensity of the upwelling appears to be determined by an interplay between alongshore, poleward advection (related to coastal trapped waves) and wind intensity, but also by the cross-shore geostrophic flow and distribution of the water masses on a scale of 1000 km or more (involving Rossby waves westward propagation and advection from equatorial currents). In particular, the delay of upwelling recovery until fall 1998 (i.e., well after the second El Niño peak) is partly due to the persistent advection of offshore stratified water toward the coast of Peru. Altimetry data suggest that these interpretations of the numerical solution also apply to the real ocean.     

Mesozooplankton in the eastern and western subarctic Pacific: community structure, seasonal life histories, and interannual variability

The zooplankton community of the subarctic Pacific is relatively simple, and contains a similar set of major species in all deep water areas of the subarctic Pacific. Their role in the food web varies considerably between coastal and offshore locations. In the oceanic gyres, microzooplankton and other mesozooplankton taxa replace phytoplankton as the primary food source for the dominant mesozooplankton species. Micronekton and larger zooplankton probably replace pelagic fish as major direct predators. Productivity and upper ocean biomass concentrations are intensely seasonal, in part because of seasonality of the physical environment and food supply, but also because of life history patterns involving seasonal vertical migrations (400–2000 m range) and winter dormancy. During the spring–summer season of upper ocean growth, small scale horizontal and vertical patchiness is intense. This can create local zones of high prey availability for predators such as planktivorous fish, birds, and marine mammals. On average, the cores of the subarctic gyres have lower biomass and productivity than the margins of the gyres. There is also some evidence that the Western Gyre is more productive than the Alaska Gyre, but more research is needed to confirm whether this east–west gradient is permanent. There is increasing evidence that the pattern of zooplankton productivity is changing over time, probably in response to interdecadal ocean climate variability. These changes include 2–3 fold shifts in total biomass, 30–60 day shifts in seasonal timing, and 10–25% changes in average body length.     

Circulation and teleconnection mechanisms of Northeast Brazil droughts

The Northern Nordeste of Brazil has its short rainy season narrowly concentrated around March–April, when the interhemispheric southward gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) is weakest and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which is the main rainbearing system for the Nordeste, reaches its southernmost position in the course of the year. The recurrent Secas (droughts) have a severe socio-economic impact in this semi-arid region. In drought years, the pre-season (October–January) rainfall is scarce, the interhemispheric SST gradient weakened and the basin-wide southerly (northerly) wind component enhanced (reduced), all manifestations of an anomalously far northward ITCZ position. Apart from this ensemble of Atlantic indicators, the Secas also tend to be preceded by anomalously warm equatorial Pacific waters in January. During El Niño years, an upper-tropospheric wave train extends from the equatorial eastern Pacific to the northern tropical Atlantic, affecting the patterns of upper-tropospheric topography and divergence, and hence of vertical motion over the Atlantic. The altered vertical motion leads to a weaker meridional pressure gradient on the equatorward flank of the North Atlantic subtropical high, and thus weaker North Atlantic tradewinds. The concomitant reduction of evaporation and wind stirring allows for warmer surface waters in the tropical North Atlantic and thus steeper interhemispheric meridional thermal gradient. Consequently, the ITCZ stays anomalously far North and the Nordeste rainy season becomes deficient.     

The Western Boundary of the Equatorial Pacific Upwelling: Some Consequences of Climatic Variability on Hydrological and Planktonic Properties

The longitude of the western limit of the equatorial Pacific upwelling is a key parameter for studies of carbon budget and pelagic fisheries variability. Although it is well defined at the surface on the equator by a salinity front and a sharp variation of the partial pressure of CO₂, data from two equatorial cruises make it clear that this hydrological limit does not necessarily coincide with the boundary of the nitrate and chlorophyll enriched area. In January-February 1991 during a non-El Niño period, when trade winds and the South Equatorial current (SEC) were favorable to upwelling, the two limits were at the same longitude. Conversely, in September-October 1994 during El Niño conditions, when the equatorial upwelling had stopped, the nitrate and chlorophyll enriched zone was found a few degrees of longitude east of the hydrological boundary (5.5° at the surface and 2.5° for the 50 m upper layer), whereas no such offset was observed for zooplankton biomass. A simple model, based on the HNLC (High Nutrient - Low Chlorophyll) ecosystem functioning, was initialized with nitrate uptake measurements and estimates of upwelling break duration. The model results support the hypothesis that zonal separation of the limits arises from biological processes (i.e. nitrate uptake and phytoplankton grazing) achieved during that upwelling break.     

Trophic ecology and vertical patterns of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in zooplankton from oxygen minimum zone regions

The unique physical and biogeochemical characteristics of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) influence plankton ecology, including zooplankton trophic webs. Using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, this study examined zooplankton trophic webs in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) OMZ. δ¹³C values were used to indicate zooplankton food sources, and δ¹⁵N values were used to indicate zooplankton trophic position and nitrogen cycle pathways. Vertically stratified MOCNESS net tows collected zooplankton from 0 to 1000 m at two stations along a north-south transect in the ETNP during 2007 and 2008, the Tehuantepec Bowl and the Costa Rica Dome. Zooplankton samples were separated into four size fractions for stable isotope analyses. Particulate organic matter (POM), assumed to represent a primary food source for zooplankton, was collected with McLane large volume in situ pumps.The isotopic composition and trophic ecology of the ETNP zooplankton community had distinct spatial and vertical patterns influenced by OMZ structure. The most pronounced vertical isotope gradients occurred near the upper and lower OMZ oxyclines. Material with lower δ¹³C values was apparently produced in the upper oxycline, possibly by chemoautotrophic microbes, and was subsequently consumed by zooplankton. Between-station differences in δ¹⁵N values suggested that different nitrogen cycle processes were dominant at the two locations, which influenced the isotopic characteristics of the zooplankton community. A strong depth gradient in zooplankton δ¹⁵N values in the lower oxycline suggested an increase in trophic cycling just below the core of the OMZ. Shallow POM (0–110 m) was likely the most important food source for mixed layer, upper oxycline, and OMZ core zooplankton, while deep POM was an important food source for most lower oxycline zooplankton (except for samples dominated by the seasonally migrating copepod Eucalanus inermis). There was no consistent isotopic progression among the four zooplankton size classes for these bulk mixed assemblage samples, implying overlapping trophic webs within the total size range considered.     

Plankton communities of the South Atlantic anticyclonic gyre

Data collected during cruises of the Former Soviet Union (in 1963–1989) and the British Atlantic meridional transect program (in 1995–1999) were used to analyse macroscale patterns in phyto- and zooplankton biomass, size structure, species diversity, chlorophyll a, and plankton bioluminescence in the macroscale anticyclonic gyre of the South Atlantic Ocean. The spatial pattern of bioluminescence intensity was in good agreement with that of remotely sensed (CZCS) chlorophyll a, phosphate, salinity, and copepod species diversity index distributions especially in terms of geographic inclinations of the isolines, both associated with the north-westward pattern off the South equatorial current. Among the 416 copepod species recorded in samples, 51 species were noted throughout the whole gyre. On the other hand, there were a number of species found only in one of the currents. The mesozooplankton biomass size spectra (calculated in carbon units), exhibited a fairly stable slope of the curve from the eastern periphery of the gyre to its centre. The British Atlantic meridional transect program meridional transect through the western part of the gyre showed mesozooplankton size spectra in greater detail between the equator and 50° S. Although the spectra change slowly along the transect as far as 36° S, there is a general trend toward increasing slopes from the equatorial region to the oligotrophic central gyre. The calculated phyto-to-zooplankton ratio indicated that for the tropical anticyclonic gyres, the mesozooplankton carbon biomass could be represented as the exponential function of the phytoplankton carbon.     

信风张弛对赤道东、西太平洋斜压扰动的影响研究

利用一个斜压两层海洋模式解析地研究了赤道东、西太平洋对信风张弛的响应特征.研究表明:当赤道上空偏东信风张弛或转为西风时,由于打破了海洋原来的平衡关系,结果在赤道东、西太平洋的温跃层附近产生了扰动并开始传播.西太平洋温跃层附近的扰动向东传播的速度远大于东太平洋扰动向西传播的速度,而且与东太平洋温跃层扰动向西传播的狭窄范围和小振幅相比,西太平洋温跃层扰动向东传播的范围和强度均很大.这与最近几次强厄尔尼诺增暖事件暖水从赤道西太平洋向赤道中、东太平洋的迅速传播特征是一致的.     

Modern and Palaeoecological Significance of the Radiolarian Spongaster tetras tetras Ehrenberg in the Eastern Equatorial Pacifics

Abstract. Spongaster tetras tetras Ehrenberg has long been considered by palaeontologists as a species indicative of warm (>21 C) sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) and tropical/subtropical conditions. However. a comparison of the Plio-Pleistocene record of S. t. tetras in the eastern equatorial Pacific (Ocean Drilling Program Hole 677A) with CaCO₃, δ¹⁸O, and δ¹³C records reveals that S. t. tetras is most commonly present during periods of intense upwelling, often coinciding with isotopically identified glacial stages. when surface productivity and salinity are high, and SST is expected to be relatively low. Maximum S. t. tetras abundance (1.8% of radiolaria counted) occurred during a cool interglacial. when productivity and salinity were high, wind-driven upwelling intense, and SST relatively warmer than during glacial maxima. It appears that in the eastern equatorial Pacific upwelling system, SSTs are generally too cold (<21 C) for S. t. tetras to survive; however, S. t. tetras can tolerate (with populations <0.7%) cold SSTs if productivity and salinity are increased (due to upwelling), and flourishes (>0.7–> 1.8%) if this is coupled with relatively warm SSTs. This micropalaeontological study Corroborates the findings of an earlier research program on living S. t. tetras cultures (Anderson et al ., 1989a.b, c).     

How are large western hemisphere warm pools formed?

During the boreal summer the Western Hemisphere warm pool (WHWP) stretches from the eastern North Pacific to the tropical North Atlantic and is a key feature of the climate of the Americas and Africa. In the summers following nine El Niño events during 1950–2000, there have been five instances of extraordinarily large warm pools averaging about twice the climatological annual size. These large warm pools have induced a strengthened divergent circulation aloft and have been associated with rainfall anomalies throughout the western hemisphere tropics and subtropics and with more frequent hurricanes. However, following four other El Niño events large warm pools did not develop, such that the mere existence of El Niño during the boreal winter does not provide the basis for predicting an anomalously large warm pool the following summer.In this paper, we find consistency with the hypothesis that large warm pools result from an anomalous divergent circulation forced by sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Pacific, the so-called atmospheric bridge. We also find significant explanations for why large warm pools do not always develop. If the El Niño event ends early in the eastern Pacific, the Pacific warm anomaly lacks the persistence needed to force the atmospheric bridge and the Atlantic portion of the warm pool remains normal. If SST anomalies in the eastern Pacific do not last much beyond February of the following year, then the eastern North Pacific portion of the warm pool remains normal. The overall strength of the Pacific El Niño does not appear to be a critical factor. We also find that when conditions favor a developing atmospheric bridge and the winter atmosphere over the North Atlantic conforms to a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern (as in 1957–58 and 1968–69), the forcing is reinforced and the warm pool is stronger. On the other hand, if a positive NAO pattern develops the warm pool may remain normal even if other circumstances favor the atmospheric bridge, as in 1991–92. Finally, we could find little evidence that interactions internal to the tropical Atlantic are likely to mitigate for or against the formation of the largest warm pools, although they may affect smaller warm pool fluctuations or the warm pool persistence.     

A review of eastern tropical Pacific oceanography: Summary

The collection of articles in this volume reviewing eastern tropical Pacific oceanography is briefly summarized, and updated references are given. The region is an unusual biological environment as a consequence of physical characteristics and patterns of forcing – including a strong and shallow thermocline, the ITCZ and coastal wind jets, equatorial upwelling, the Costa Rica Dome, eastern boundary and equatorial current systems, low iron input, inadequate ventilation of subthermocline waters, and dominance of ENSO-scale temporal variability. Remaining unanswered questions are presented.