Interannual Thermocline Signals and E1 Nino-La Nina Turnabout in the Tropical Pacific Ocean

One of the fundamental questions concerning the nature and prediction of the oceanic states in the equatorial eastern Pacific is how the turnabout from a cold water state (La Ni?na) to a warm water state (El Ni?no) takes place, and vice versa. Recent studies show that this turnabout is directly linked to the interannual thermocline variations in the tropical Pacific Ocean basin. An index, as an indicator and precursor to describe interannual thermocline variations and the turnabout of oceanic states in our previous paper (Qian and Hu, 2005), is also used in this study. The index, which shows the maximum subsurface temperature anomaly (MSTA), is derived from the monthly 21-year (1980–2000) expendable XBT dataset in the present study. Results show that the MSTA can be used as a precursor for the occurrences of El Ni?no (or La Ni?na) events. The subsequent analyses of the MSTA propagations in the tropical Pacific suggest a one-year potential predictability for El Ni?no and La Ni?na events by identifying ocean temperature anomalies in the thermocline of the western Pacific Ocean. It also suggests that a closed route cycle with the strongest signal propagation is identified only in the tropical North Pacific Ocean. A positive (or negative) MSTA signal may travel from the western equatorial Pacific to the eastern equatorial Pacific with the strongest signal along the equator. This signal turns northward along the tropical eastern boundary of the basin and then moves westward along the north side of off-equator around 16N. Finally, the signal returns toward the equator along the western boundary of the basin. The turnabout time from an El Ni?no event to a La Ni?na event in the eastern equatorial Pacific depends critically on the speed of the signal traveling along the closed route, and it usually needs about 4 years. This finding may help to predict the occurrence of the El Ni?no or La Ni?na event at least one year in advance.     

Optimal Precursor Perturbations of El Nino in the Zebiak-Cane Model for Different Cost Functions

Optimal precursor perturbations of El Nino in the Zebiak-Cane model were explored for three different cost functions. For the different characteristics of the eastern-Pacific （EP） El Nino and the central-Pacific （CP） El Nino, three cost functions were defined as the sea surface temperature anomaly （SSTA） evolutions at prediction time in the whole tropical Pacific, the Nino3 area, and the Nino4 area. For all three cost functions, there were two optimal precursors that developed into El Nino events, called Precursor Ⅰ and Precursor Ⅱ. For Precursor Ⅰ, the SSTA component consisted of an east-west （positive-negative） dipole spanning the entire tropical Pacific basin and the thermocline depth anomaly pattern exhibited a tendency of deepening for the whole of the equatorial Pacific. Precursor Ⅰ can develop into an EP-El Nino event, with the warmest SSTA occurring in the eastern tropical Pacific or into a mixed El Nino event that has features between EP-El Nino and CP-El Nino events. For Precursor Ⅱ, the thermocline deepened anomalously in the eastern equatorial Pacific and the amplitude of deepening was obviously larger than that of shoaling in the central and western equatorial Pacific. Precursor Ⅱ developed into a mixed El Nino event. Both the thermocline depth and wind anomaly played important roles in the development of Precursor Ⅰ and Precursor Ⅱ.     

Warming in the Northwestern Indian Ocean Associated with the El Nio Event

This paper investigates possible warming effects of an El Nino event on the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the northwestern Indian Ocean. Most pure positive Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) events (without an El Nino event co-occurring) have a maximum positive SSTA mainly in the central Indian Ocean south of the equator, while most co-occurrences with an El Nino event exhibit a northwest-southeast typical dipole mode. It is therefore inferred that warming in the northwestern Indian Ocean is closely related to the El Nino event. Based on the atmospheric bridge theory, warming in the northwestern Indian Ocean during co-occurring cases may be primarily caused by relatively less latent heat loss from the ocean due to reduced wind speed. The deepened thermocline also contributes to the warming along the east coast of Africa through the suppressed upwelling of the cold water. Therefore, the El Nino event is suggested to have a modulating effect on the structure of the dipole mode in the tropical Indian Ocean.     

Processes Leading to Second-Year Cooling of the 2010–12 La Ni?a Event,Diagnosed Using GODAS

Isopycnal analyses were performed on the Global Ocean Data Assimilation System(GODAS) to determine the oceanic processes leading to so-called second-year cooling of the La Nina event. In 2010–12, a horseshoe-like pattern was seen,connecting negative temperature anomalies off and on the Equator, with a dominant influence from the South Pacific. During the 2010 La Nina event, warm waters piled up at subsurface depths in the western tropical Pacific. Beginning in early 2011,these warm subsurface anomalies propagated along the Equator toward the eastern basin, acting to reverse the sign of sea surface temperature(SST) anomalies(SSTAs) there and initiate a warm SSTA. However, throughout early 2011, pronounced negative anomalies persisted off the Equator in the subsurface depths of the South Pacific. As isopycnal surfaces outcropped in the central equatorial Pacific, negative anomalies from the subsurface spread upward along with mean circulation pathways, naturally initializing a cold SSTA. In the summer, a cold SSTA reappeared in the central basin, which subsequently strengthened due to the off-equatorial effects mostly in the South Pacific. These SSTAs acted to initiate local coupled air–sea interactions, generating atmospheric–oceanic anomalies that developed and evolved with the second-year cooling in the fall of 2011. However, the cooling tendency in mid-2012 did not develop into another La Nina event, since the cold anomalies in the South Pacific were not strong enough. An analysis of the 2007–09 La Nina event revealed similar processes to the2010–12 La Nina event.     

Influence of Intraseasonal Oscillation on the Asymmetric Decays of El Ni?o and La Ni?a

Warm and cold phases of El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exhibit a significant asymmetry in their decay speed. To explore the physical mechanism responsible for this asymmetric decay speed, the asymmetric features of anomalous sea surface temperature (SST) and atmospheric circulation over the tropical Western Pacific (WP) in El Nino and La Nina mature-to-decay phases are analyzed. It is found that the interannual standard deviations of outgoing longwave radiation and 850 hPa zonal wind anomalies over the equatorial WP during El Nino (La Nina) mature-to-decay phases are much stronger (weaker) than the intraseasonal standard deviations. It seems that the weakened (enhanced) intraseasonal oscillation during El Nino (La Nina) tends to favor a stronger (weaker) interannual variation of the atmospheric wind, resulting in asymmetric equatorial WP zonal wind anomalies in El Nino and La Nina decay phases. Numerical experiments demonstrate that such asymmetric zonal wind stress anomalies during El Nino and La Nina decay phases can lead to an asymmetric decay speed of SST anomalies in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific through stimulating di erent equatorial Kelvin waves. The largest negative anomaly over the Nino3 region caused by the zonal wind stress anomalies during El Nino can be threefold greater than the positive Nino3 SSTA anomalies during La Nina, indicating that the stronger zonal wind stress anomalies over the equatorial WP play an important role in the faster decay speed during El Nino.     

An Incursion of Off-Equatorial Subsurface Cold Water and Its Role in Triggering the “Double Dip” La Nia Event of 2011

Based on Global Ocean Data Assimilation System(GODAS) and NCEP reanalysis data, atmospheric and oceanic processes possibly responsible for the onset of the 2011/12 La Nia event, which followed the 2010/11 La Nia even—referred to as a "double dip" La Nia—are investigated. The key mechanisms involved in activating the 2011/12 La Nia are illustrated by these datasets. Results show that neutral conditions were already evident in the equatorial eastern Pacific during the decaying phase of the 2010/11 La Nia. However, isothermal analyses show obviously cold water still persisting at the surface and at subsurface depths in off-equatorial regions throughout early 2011, being most pronounced in the tropical South Pacific. The negative SST anomalies in the tropical South Pacific acted to strengthen a southern wind across the equator. The subsurface cold water in the tropical South Pacific then spread northward and broke into the equatorial region at the thermocline depth. This incursion process of off-equatorial subsurface cold water successfully interrupted the eastern propagation of warm water along the equator, which had previously accumulated at subsurface depths in the warm pool during the 2010/11 La Nia event. Furthermore, the incursion process strengthened as a result of the off-equatorial effects, mostly in the tropical South Pacific. The negative SST anomalies then reappeared in the central basin in summer 2011, and acted to trigger local coupled air–sea interactions to produce atmospheric–oceanic anomalies that developed and evolved with the second cooling in the fall of 2011.     

STUDY ON THE QUASI-FOUR YEAR OSCILLATION OF AIR-SEA INTERACTION

Complex Singular Value Decomposition(CSVD)analysis technique was applied to study theQuasi Four year Oscillation(QFO)of air sea interaction and its coupled pattern evolution duringdifferent phases.Results show that:(1)CSVD method can better reveal phase relation betweentwo physical fields:(2)Not only northerly anomalies from Northern Hemisphere but alsosoutherly anomalies from Southern Hemisphere contribute to EI Nino.They converge in westernequatorial Pacific,leading to outburst of strong equatorial westerly anomalies,and result in strongEl Nino event onset:(3)An abnormal subtropical anticyclone circulation appears overnorthwestern Pacific while El Nino developing.It favors transitions from the warm SST(EINino)to the cold SST(La Nina),just as the tropical westerly anomalies produced by abnormalcyclone during a decaying La Nina.which encourage the development of El Nino:(4)Thewesterly anomalies in equatorial Pacific are mainly induced by eastward abnormal subtropicalcyclone pairs,which are located in north and south Pacific respectively,and are not the eastwardwesterly anomalies from equatorial Indian Ocean.     

STUDY OF ANOMALOUS SST FIELD IN TROPICAL PACIFIC IN PRECEDING YEARS OF TWO PATTERNS OF ENSO EVENTS

Analyzing the anomalous field of SST over the tropical Pacific for two kinds of ENSO events after 1956. we find that in the preceding year before the eastern pattern of El Nino event there is the La Nina event and large negative anomalies of SST in the tropical central and eastern Pacific; the preceding year before the eastern pattern of La Nina event witnesses the prevalence of the El Nino event and large positive anomalies of SST in the same waters: the preceding year before the central patterns of the El Nino (La Nina) events are generally marked by significant positive (negative) SST anomalies in central/western (eastern) tropical Pacific. The fields are just the opposite for two patterns of ENSO events. For waters in the warm pool in the western tropical Pacific, the central (eastern) pattern of El Nino event is with a warm (cool) preceding year of the pool. The warmer conditions in the western Pacific warm pool are a necessity for the occurrence of the central pattern of El Nino event.     

Optimal Precursor Perturbations of El Ni?o in the Zebiak-Cane Model for Different Cost Functions

Optimal precursor perturbations of El Ni?o in the Zebiak-Cane model were explored for three different cost functions. For the different characteristics of the eastern-Pacific(EP) El Ni?o and the central-Pacific(CP) El Ni?o, three cost functions were defined as the sea surface temperature anomaly(SSTA) evolutions at prediction time in the whole tropical Pacific, the Ni?o3 area, and the Ni?o4 area. For all three cost functions, there were two optimal precursors that developed into El Ni?o events, called Precursor I and Precursor Ⅱ. For Precursor Ⅰ, the SSTA component consisted of an east-west(positive-negative) dipole spanning the entire tropical Pacific basin and the thermocline depth anomaly pattern exhibited a tendency of deepening for the whole of the equatorial Pacific. Precursor I can develop into an EP-El Ni?o event, with the warmest SSTA occurring in the eastern tropical Pacific or into a mixed El Ni?o event that has features between EP-El Ni?o and CP-El Ni?o events. For Precursor Ⅱ, the thermocline deepened anomalously in the eastern equatorial Pacific and the amplitude of deepening was obviously larger than that of shoaling in the central and western equatorial Pacific. Precursor Ⅱ developed into a mixed El Ni?o event. Both the thermocline depth and wind anomaly played important roles in the development of Precursor Ⅰ and Precursor Ⅱ.     

Role of the oceanic channel in the relationships between the basin/dipole mode of SST anomalies in the tropical Indian Ocean and ENSO transition

The relationships between the tropical Indian Ocean basin(IOB)/dipole(IOD) mode of SST anomalies(SSTAs) and ENSO phase transition during the following year are examined and compared in observations for the period 1958–2008.Both partial correlation analysis and composite analysis show that both the positive(negative) phase of the IOB and IOD(independent of each other) in the tropical Indian Ocean are possible contributors to the El Nio(La Nia) decay and phase transition to La Nia(El Nio) about one year later. However, the influence on ENSO transition induced by the IOB is stronger than that by the IOD. The SSTAs in the equatorial central-eastern Pacific in the coming year originate from subsurface temperature anomalies in the equatorial eastern Indian and western Pacific Ocean, induced by the IOB and IOD through eastward and upward propagation to meet the surface. During this process, however the contribution of the oceanic channel process between the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans is totally different for the IOB and IOD. For the IOD, the influence of the Indonesian Throughflow transport anomalies could propagate to the eastern Pacific to induce the ENSO transition. For the IOB, the impact of the oceanic channel stays and disappears in the western Pacific without propagation to the eastern Pacific.     

ACTIONS OF TYPHOONS OVER THE WESTERN PACIFIC (INCLUDING THE SOUTH CHINA SEA) AND EL NINO

According to me lime cross-section or SSI in me equatorial eastern racing and me historical data on typhoon actions over the western Pacific (including the South China Sea), a composite analysis of the actions of typhoon over the western Pacific in El Nino year (SST in the equatorial eastern Pacific are continuously higher than normal) and in the inverse El Nino year (there are continuative negative anomalies of SST in the equatorial eastern Pacific) is carried out. The results show that the actions of typhoon are in close relation with El Nino: The annual average number of typhoons over the western Pacific and South China Sea is less than normal in El Nino year and more in the inverse El Nino year; The annual average number of the landing typhoon on the continent of China bears the same relationship with El Nino; The anomalies of typhoon actions mainly occur during July-November and their starting are behind the anomaly of SST in the equatorial eastern Pacific.Based on the generation and development co     

The Role of the Halted Baroclinic Mode at the Central Equatorial Pacific in El Nino Event

The role of halted "baroclinic modes" in the central equatorial Pacific is analyzed. It is found that dominant anomaly signals corresponding to "baroclinic modes" occur in the upper layer of the equatorial Pacific, in a two-and-a-half layer oceanic model, in assimilated results of a simple OGCM and in the ADCP observation of TAO. A second "baroclinic mode" is halted in the central equatorial Pacific corresponding to a positive SST anomaly while the first "baroclinic mode" propagates eastwards in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The role of the halted second "baroclinic mode" in the central equatorial Pacific is explained by a staged ocean-atmosphere interaction mechanism in the formation of El Nino: the westerly bursts in boreal winter over the western equatorial Pacific generate the halted second "baroclinic mode" in the central equatorial Pacific, leading to the increase of heat content and temperature in the upper layer of the central Pacific which induces the shift of convection from over the western equatorial Pacific to the central equatorial Pacific; another wider, westerly anomaly burst is induced over the western region of convection above the central equatorial Pacific and the westerly anomaly burst generates the first "baroclinic mode" propagating to the eastern equatorial Pacific, resulting in a warm event in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The mechanism presented in this paper reveals that the central equatorial Pacific is a key region in detecting the possibility of ENSO and, by analyzing TAO observation data of ocean currents and temperature in the central equatorial Pacific, in predicting the coming of an El Nino several months ahead.     

The ISO Events in the Winter of 2007

The intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) events that occurred from November 2007 to February 2008 in the tropical Indian Ocean region were investigated by analyzing observational oceanic and atmospheric datasets.The results reveal that two ISO events were generated and developed from November 2007 to February 2008 in the tropical area of the Indian Ocean,which both originated from the southern African continent and propagated along a northeastward direction and finally penetrated into the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean.Compared with the general winter MJO event,which tended to travel along the equator from the western Indian Ocean into the western Pacific,the ISO of winter 2007 propagated not only along the equator into the eastern part of the Indian Ocean but was also transported northward into the subtropical region in the eastern Indian Ocean,which is more similar to the behavior of traditional summer ISO events.     

Impacts of two types of El Niño on atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere

Based on NCEP/NCAR （National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmo- spheric Research） reanalysis data from 1979 to 2010, the impacts of two types of E1 Nino on atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere （SH） are analyzed. It is shown thaL when a warming event occurs in the equatorial eastern Pacific （EP E1 Nino）, there is a negative sea level pressure （SLP） anomaly in the east- ern Pacific and a positive one in the western Pacific. Besides, there exists a negative anomaly between 40°S and 60°S and a positive anomaly to the south of 60°S. When a warming event in the central Pacific （CP E1 Nino） occurs, there appears a negative SLP anomaly in the central Pacific and a positive SLP anomaly in the eastern and western Pacific, but the SLP anomalies are not so evident in the SH extratropics. In particular, the Pacific-South America （PSA） pattern induced by the CP E1 Nino is located more northwestward, with a weaker anomaly compared with the EP E1 Nino. This difference is directly related with the different position of heating centers associated with the two types of E1 Nino events. Because the SST anomaly associated with CP E1 Nino is located more westward than that associated with EP El Nino, the related heating center tends to move westward and the response of SH atmospheric circulation to the tropical heating changes accordingly, thus exciting a different position of the PSA pattern. It is also noted that the local meridional cell plays a role in the SH high latitudes during EP E1 Nino. The anomalous ascending motion due to the enhancement of convection over the eastern Pacific leads to an enhancement of the local Hadley cell and the meridional cell in the middle and high latitudes, which in turn induces an anomalous descending motion and the related positive anomaly of geopotential height over the Amundsen-Bellingshausen Sea.     

Association between Tropical Convection and Boreal Wintertime Extratropical Circulation in 1982／83 and 1988／89

Boreal wintertime extratropical circulation is studied in relation to the tropical convection during the 1982/83 El Nino and 1988/89 La Nina. The anomaly structure of 1982/83 and 1988/89 over the extratropics reveals remarkably different features as the longitudinal tropical forcing region changes. The Rossby wave source (Positive) shows the largest maximum over East Asia in both years due to the persistent heating from the western Pacific warm pool area. However, the sink term shows contrasting features over the subtropics and extratropics between the two years. In the El Nino year, enhanced tropical convection over the eastern Pacific produces the Rossby wave sink at 10?N and shifted eastward over the North Pacific, while in the La Nina year, the sink area is shifted westward over the North Pacific. The contrasting features between the two events in mean-eddy interaction appears especially over the downstream area of the East Asian Jet. The extension (retraction) of the meanflow eastward (westward) to     

Influence of positive and negative Indian Ocean Dipoles on ENSO via the Indonesian Throughflow: Results from sensitivity experiments

The role of the Indonesian Throughflow(ITF) in the influence of the Indian Ocean Dipole(IOD) on ENSO is investigated using version 2 of the Parallel Ocean Program(POP2) ocean general circulation model. We demonstrate the results through sensitivity experiments on both positive and negative IOD events from observations and coupled general circulation model simulations. By shutting down the atmospheric bridge while maintaining the tropical oceanic channel, the IOD forcing is shown to influence the ENSO event in the following year, and the role of the ITF is emphasized. During positive IOD events,negative sea surface height anomalies(SSHAs) occur in the eastern Indian Ocean, indicating the existence of upwelling.These upwelling anomalies pass through the Indonesian seas and enter the western tropical Pacific, resulting in cold anomalies there. These cold temperature anomalies further propagate to the eastern equatorial Pacific, and ultimately induce a La Nia-like mode in the following year. In contrast, during negative IOD events, positive SSHAs are established in the eastern Indian Ocean, leading to downwelling anomalies that can also propagate into the subsurface of the western Pacific Ocean and travel further eastward. These downwelling anomalies induce negative ITF transport anomalies, and an El Nio-like mode in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean that persists into the following year. The effects of negative and positive IOD events on ENSO via the ITF are symmetric. Finally, we also estimate the contribution of IOD forcing in explaining the Pacific variability associated with ENSO via ITF.     

Roles of Multi-Scale Disturbances over the Tropical North Pacific in the Turnabout of 1997-98 El Nino

The space-time features of major vorticity disturbances over the western North Pacific during the 1997-98 El Nino ranked as one of the strongest events on record was investigated in this study. We distinguished the different roles that these disturbances had on different timescales in causing the reversal or turnabout of the El Nino event. Remarkable differences in the various disturbances of synoptic, intraseasonal, and interannual timescales were found in the time evolution, propagation, and in their contributions to the changes in nearequatorial zonal flow, which was crucial to the demise of the warm sea surface temperature anomalies in the central-eastern Pacific. It is hypothesized that the westward-traveling synoptic and intraseasonal oscillations in the western North Pacific might be considered as a self-provided negative feedback from the El Nino and played an additional role in its reversal in comparison with other interannual internal and external forcings. In this case, the off-equatorial synoptic and intraseaonal fluctuations served as a stochastic forcing for the tropical ocean and gave rise to the aperiodicity or irregularity of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.     

DIAGNOSTIC PREDICTIONS OF SST IN THE EQUATORIAL EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN BASED ON FUZZY INFERRING AND WAVELET DECOMPOSITION

Methods and approaches are discussed that identify and filter off affecting factors (noise) above primary signals,based on the Adaptive-Nework-Based Fuzzy Inference System. Influences of the zonal winds in equatorial eastern and middle/western Pacific on the SSTA in the equatorial region and their contribution to the latter are diagnosed and verified with observations of a number of significant El Nino and La Nina episodes. New viewpoints are propsed. The methods of wavelet decomposition and reconstruction are used to build a predictive model based on independent domains of frequency,which shows some advantages in composite prediction and prediction validity.The methods presented above are of non-linearity, error-allowing and auto-adaptive/learning, in addition to rapid and easy access,illustrative and quantitative presentation,and analyzed results that agree generally with facts. They are useful in diagnosing and predicting the El Nino and La Nina problems that are just roughly described in dynamics.     

NUMERICAL STUDY ON DOMINATING FACTOR AND KEY AREA OF EL NINO CYCLE FORMATION

A coupled model,which is employed to study the dominating factor and key area of El Ninocycle formation,consists of a dynamical ocean model and a statistical atmospheric model.Thecoupled model with seasonal forcing successfully reproduces the El Nino event cycle which exhibitsquasi-regular oscillations with a preferred period of about 4 years.The results show that the heatcontent(HC)is transported between the eastern and the western tropical Pacific areas.The spatialdistribution of HC anomalies for four phases of the whole cycle clearly shows a possible formationmechanism of El Nino.Experiments further suggest that sea surface temperature in the tropicalPacific and HC in the central tropical Pacific are the most important factors and the central tropicalPacific is the most important area for determining formation of El Nino cycle.     

On the Mechanism of the Locking of the El Nino Event Onset Phase to Boreal Spring

The mechanism of the locking of the E1 Nino event onset phase to boreal spring （from April to June） in an intermediate coupled ocean-atmosphere model is investigated. The results show that the seasonal variation of the zonal wind anomaly over the equatorial Pacific associated with the seasonal variation of the ITCZ is the mechanism of the locking in the model. From January to March of the E1 Nino year, the western wind anomaly over the western equatorial Pacific can excite the downwelling Kelvin wave that propagates eastward to the eastern and middle Pacific by April to June. From April to December of the year before the E1 Nifio year, the eastern wind anomaly over the equatorial Pacific forces the downwelling Rossby waves that modulate the ENSO cycle. The modulation and the reflection at the western boundary modulate the time of the transition from the cool to the warm phase to September of the year before the E1 Nifio year and cause the strongest downwelling Kelvin wave from the reflected Rossby waves at the western boundary to arrive in the middle and eastern equatorial Pacific by April to June of the E1 Nino year. The superposition of these two kinds of downwelling Kelvin waves causes the El Nino event to tend to occur from April to June.