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.     

2015/2016年超强厄尔尼诺事件基本特征及生成和消亡机制

全球变暖背景下, 2015/2016年超强厄尔尼诺(El Ni?o)事件倍受关注, 此次事件是中部型和东部型El Ni?o的混合。研究发现, 西风爆发和北太平洋经向模态对触发此次事件均有所贡献。通过对比2015/2016年、1997/1998年与中部型事件可知, 2015/2016年事件在暖背景中产生, 其发展形态与中部型事件较为相似, 后期海表面温度异常迅速衰退主要与赤道东太平洋海域持续的东风异常以及纬向平流较弱有关。较之1997/1998年事件, 2015/2016年事件的海洋动力调整较弱, 表现为较弱的温跃层反馈和海洋波动, 纬向平流反馈的贡献大于温跃层反馈, 大气强迫影响显著, 中部海域相关要素异常值较大。在2015/2016年事件期间, 赤道海域以及近赤道海域海洋上层热含量的变化基本呈负相关, 且变化较为同步; 衰退阶段热含量的流失主要集中在5°S—5°N海域, 向两极的热输送明显。     

Anomalous eastward displacement of the tropical western Pacific warm pool and warming of the tropical eastern Pacific

INTRODUCTIONSincetheTOGA-COARElOP(October1992--March1993),usingthelOPdatamanyscientistshaveanalyzedthedifferenttimescaleair-seainteractionduringoccurringanddevelopingperiodof1992/1993EINifio,andespeciallyemphasizedtheintraseasonalvariation(Wuetal.,1993;Liu,1993;WuandSheng,1993).ThishasgottenanewunderstandingoftheEINino*ThisworkissupportedbytheNationalKeyProjectStudiesonShort-rangeClimatePredictionSysteminChinaundercontractNo.96--908-04-02--2.1.FirstinstituteofOceanography,S…     

热带西太平洋暖池异常东伸与热带东太平洋增温

本文利用“Climate Diagnostics Bulletin”、“Oceanographic Monthly Summary”、美国夏威夷水位中心提供的资料以及TOGA-COAREIOP资料,分析了1992～1993厄尔尼诺事件中西太平洋暖池、东太平洋SST对异常风场的响应,结果指出:由于西风暴发而引起的西太平洋暖水向东输送,不仅导致西太平详水位降低,而且导致温跃层显着升高,进而引起上层海水热含量显着减少,这种减少在温跃层更为明显.东太平洋与此相反,热含量与温跃层深度出现正距平,正距平中心出现时间比西太平洋的负距平均晚两个月;暖池28℃等温线的异常东伸是海流对低空西风异常直接响应的结果,定量估算表明,纬向流异常所引起的温度平流是暖池28℃等温线异常东伸的主要动力,是热带东太平洋异常增温的主要原因之一.     

中国科学院气候系统模式模拟的ENSO循环

On the basis of more than 200-year control run, the performance of the climate system model of Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS-ESM-C) in simulating the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO) cycle is evaluated, including the onset, development and decay of the ENSO. It is shown that, the model can reasonably simulate the annual cycle and interannual variability of sea surface temperature(SST) in the tropical Pacific, as well as the seasonal phase-locking of the ENSO. The model also captures two prerequisites for the El Ni?o onset, i.e., a westerly anomaly and a warm SST anomaly in the equatorial western Pacific. Owing to too strong forcing from an extratropical meridional wind, however, the westerly anomaly in this region is largely overestimated. Moreover, the simulated thermocline is much shallower with a weaker slope. As a result, the warm SST anomaly from the western Pacific propagates eastward more quickly, leading to a faster development of an El Ni?o. During the decay stage, owing to a stronger El Ni?o in the model, the secondary Gill-type response of the tropical atmosphere to the eastern Pacific warming is much stronger, thereby resulting in a persistent easterly anomaly in the western Pacific. Meanwhile, a cold anomaly in the warm pool appears as a result of a lifted thermocline via Ekman pumping. Finally, an El Ni?o decays into a La Ni?a through their interactions. In addition, the shorter period and larger amplitude of the ENSO in the model can be attributed to a shallower thermocline in the equatorial Pacific, which speeds up the zonal redistribution of a heat content in the upper ocean.     

Response of Equatorial Pacific Mean Temperature Field to Intraseasonal Wind Forcing

The effects of intra-seasonal wind forcing on the mean field of the tropical Pacific Ocean has been studied using an ocean general circulation model (GCM). Idealized intra-seasonal zonal wind forcing with zero mean, which propagates eastward, induces net eastward jets at the equator that shift the warm water pool to the east. The mean temperature of the upper 200 m of the ocean increases off the equator and decreases at the equator. The change is independent of the propagation speed of the intra-seasonal wind forcing. The magnitude of the change depends on the amplitude and the period of the forcing, and the ocean structure, while the spatial pattern is independent of these parameters. A simple shallow water model is used to explain these changes. It is found that the term responsible for the enhanced eastward Equatorial jet is the Reynolds stress term, which arises from a phase shift of the zonal current due to friction. The resultant convergence of eastward momentum on the equator and geostrophic adjustment of the interface to the change of zonal current brings about the thermal redistribution of the upper ocean seen in the GCM.     

2009/2010年El Ni(n)o事件变化特征及其机理

应用TAO (Tropical Atmosphere Ocean project)热带太平洋实测海温和风场资料,分析研究了发生在2009/2010年的El Ni(n)o事件的变化特征,讨论了此次El Ni(n)o事件发生过程中,赤道东、西太平洋次表层异常海温的变化特征及其传播过程,特别是对赤道太平洋次表层异常海温变化的...     

Variability in upper-ocean salinity stratification in the tropical Pacific Ocean

Using a gridded array for real-time geostrophic oceanography(Argo) program float dataset, the features of upperocean salinity stratification in the tropical Pacific Ocean are studied. The salinity component of the squared Brunt-V?is?l? frequency N~2( N_S~2) is used to represent salinity stratification. Layer-max N_S~2(LMN), defined as the N_S~2 maximum over the upper 300 m depth, and halocline depth(HD), defined as the depth where the N_S~2 maximum is located, are used to specifically describe the intensity of salinity stratification. Salinity stratification in the Topical Pacific Ocean has both spatial and temporal variability. Over the western and eastern equatorial Pacific, the LMN has a large magnitude with a shallow HD, and both have completely opposite distributions outside of the equatorial region. An obvious seasonal cycle in the LMN occurs in the north side of eastern equatorial Pacific and freshwater flux forcing dominates the seasonal variations, followed by subsurface forcing.At the eastern edge of the western Pacific warm pool around the dateline, significant interannual variation of salinity stratification occurs and is closely related to the El Ni?o Southern Oscillation event. When an El Ni?o event occurs, the precipitation anomaly freshens sea surface and the thermocline shoaling induced by the westerly wind anomaly lifts salty water upward, together contribute to the positive salinity stratification anomaly over the eastern edge of the warm pool. The interannual variations in ocean stratification can slightly affect the propagation of first baroclinic gravity waves.     

The seasonal variation of undercurrent and temperature in the equatorial Pacific jointly derived from buoy measurement and assimilation analysis

Based on the TOGA-TAO buoy chain observed data in the equatorial Pacific and the assimilation analysis results from SODA(simple ocean data assimilation analysis), the role of the meridional cells in the subsurface of the tropical Pacific was discussed. It was found that, the seasonal varying direction of EUC (the quatorial Undercurrent)in the Peacific is westwards beginning from the eastern equatorial Pacific in the boreal spring. The meridional cell south of the equator plays important role on this seasonal change of EUC.On the other hand, although the varying direction is westwards,the seasonal variation of temperature in the same region gets its minimum values in the boreal autumn beginning from the eastern equatorial Pacific.The meridional cell north of the equator is most responsible for the seasonal temperature variation in the eastern equatorial Pacific while the meridional cell south of the equator mainly controls the seasonal temperature change in the central Pacific. It is probably true that the asymmetry by the equator is an important factor influencing the seasonal cycle of EUC and temperature in the tropical Pacific.     

热带大西洋年际和年代际变率的时空结构模拟

使用美国夏威夷大学发展的中等复杂程度海洋模式(IOM)在给定表面强迫条件下模拟了热带大西洋上层海洋年际和年代际变率的时空结构.利用NCEP的41a(1958～1998年)逐月平均表面资料作为强迫场,积分海洋模式41a作为控制试验,并利用模式分别做动量(风应力)通量和热量通量无异常变化的平行试验,与控制试验作比较.对3组试验模拟上层海洋变率状况的比较,并按年际和年代际时间尺度分别分析,揭示表面风应力和热通量异常对海表面温度和温跃层深度变化的影响,并比较了其影响的相对重要性.结果表明模式成功地模拟出了热带大西洋上层海洋的变率.模式模拟的海表面温度年际变化主要表现为弱ENSO型,年代际变化表现为南、北大西洋变化相反的偶极子型.在年际时间尺度上,热力强迫和动力强迫对海表温度变化都有贡献,其中赤道外海表面温度异常(SSTA)变化主要由热通量异常引起,而近赤道SSTA的变化主要由动量异常强迫引起.在年代际时间尺度上,热通量强迫的作用远比动量强迫重要.模式不仅能够模拟SST在年际和年代际时间尺度上的变率,还能够模拟温跃层深度在年际和年代际时间尺度上的变率.年际和年代际时间尺度上,温跃层深度的变率主要由动量异常决定,热通量异常强迫的贡献很小.     

Response of western equatorial Pacific to a westerly wind burst

INTRODUCTIONWindsWithhorizontalshearareliabletoinduceoceanicupwelling.Forexample,theresPOnseoftheoceantotheatmOSphericjetasshowninFig.Ihascausedacurlthatinducesupwellinginoneregion,downwellinginanother.IftheoceanisinfinitelydeepandhasconstantBrunt--V...     

SST年循环对El Niño事件局地海气过程的影响

利用Hadley中心逐月海表温度、欧洲中心ERA-40的10 m风场及CMAP降水资料探讨了年循环对热带太平洋El Niño海气相互作用过程的影响。尽管El Niño对应的海表温度异常主要出现在赤道东太平洋,经向上呈南北对称分布,然而其对应的大气响应在El Niño年衰减阶段却有着强的向南移动特征。在El Niño发展年的11月之前,强的西风和降水异常主要出现在赤道中太平洋;在12月份之后,赤道上的西风和降水异常迅速南移至5°S,随后西风一直维持在该位置直至衰亡。同时,西太平洋负降水和反气旋异常向北移动。这种SST异常与其大气响应的经向移动不一致,主要是由热带中太平洋气候态SST的季节性南移导致的。由于对流与海温之间存在非线性关系,即当总SST超过一定的阈值,对流降水才会迅速增强;因此相应的对流响应也随着总海温的南移而南移,风场响应也同时南移。此外,南半球增强的对流会通过经向环流进一步抑制北半球的降水,从而使西太平洋负降水和反气旋异常增强并北移。通过分析有/无年循环的两组数值试验结果验证了上述结论,即有年循环的试验较真实地模拟出了观测中异常西风南移和西北太平洋反气旋异常的出现;无年循环试验尽管能模拟出El Niño年赤道中太平洋的西风异常,但其却没有南北向的移动,西北太平洋的反气旋也没有出现。因此,热带中太平洋气候态暖海温的季节循环对El Niño事件大气响应有着至关重要的作用。     

Changes of equatorial wind fields in the Western Pacific and El Nino

The relationship between SST in the Eastern Pacific and equatorial wind fields in the Western Pacific is analysed by using COADS.It is pointed out that in the year before El Nino , the continuative easterly anomalies and the meridional anomalies blowing from the Equator to both sides in the Equatorial Western Pacific cause the sea level in the Western Pacific to rise higher than in the Eastern Pacific and the sea level at the Equator to drop lower than on both sides of it. In the El Nino year, the westerly anomalies and the meridional anomalies blowing from both sides to the Equator bring warm water to build up around the Equator. At such times Kelvin waves are generated and they play an important role in raising SST in the Eastern Pacific. It is also emphatically pointed out that in the El Nino year the two maxima of the equatorial westerly anomalies, the two cross-equatorial air flows from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern one and the two maxima of the near-equatorial tropical cyclones in the Eq     

A global heat and freshwater forcing dataset for ocean models

A global dataset based on the ECMWF Re-Analyses (ERA) is presented that can be used as surface boundary conditions for ocean models with sea-ice components. The definition of these conditions is based on bulk formulae. To study the mean ocean circulation, a mean annual cycle on a daily basis was constructed from ERA for all relevant parameters including wind stress. Continental runoff is considered by using information about the catchment areas of the rivers and about the main drainage basins. The bulk formulae were extended by using sea ice concentration.To estimate meridional heat transports (MHT) and to avoid any drift in ocean model simulations, the heat and fresh water budgets have been closed by applying an inverse procedure to fine-tune the fluxes towards observed transports. To improve the MHTs on the Southern Hemisphere the winds and the short wave radiation at southern higher latitudes should be corrected. Furthermore, tests were performed concerning short wave radiation which was increased in the tropics and decreased in the subsidence zones.The heat and fresh water fluxes are assessed by using a scheme of Macdonald and Wunsch based on hydrographic sections. The net heat fluxes of ERA and of the forcing dataset are consistent with the heat flux divergences and convergences estimated by this scheme except for parts of the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean where none of these datasets is consistent with these estimates. In the subtropical South Indian Ocean the forcing dataset is consistent with these estimates while ERA are not. The flux components of ERA and the forcing dataset were compared to several observational datasets (SRB, SOC, HOAPS, GPCP, and CMAP). For each component, at least one of these datasets (especially HOAPS) supports the effects of the inverse procedure and the bulk formulae almost globally with some regional exceptions: short wave radiation in the tropical oceans and the subtropical North Atlantic, latent heat flux at higher latitudes, and precipitation in the northern North Atlantic.Comparisons to the NCAR/NCEP Re-Analyses (NRA) (versions 1 and 2) and the ECHAM model in place of ERA lead to similar results. In the North Atlantic the net heat fluxes of the model based datasets approach the hydrographic estimate with increasing resolution. Applied to any ocean/sea-ice model and compared to ERA, the forcing dataset would induce only a relative small net sea-surface buoyancy loss.A comparison of the forcing dataset to measurements made using one buoy deployed in the western Pacific warm pool and five buoys deployed in the subduction region of the Northeast Atlantic shows that at the site of the first buoy the net heat fluxes of the forcing dataset are in poorer agreement than those of ERA. At the sites of two subduction buoys both datasets show the same level of agreement within the error bars specified. At the sites of the three remaining subduction buoys the forcing dataset shows a marginal improvement on ERA.     

热带印度洋上层水温的年循环特征

通过分析多年气候月平均的Levitus水温资料,结合多年气候月平均海表面风场资料以及观测的热带印度洋上层海流的分布状况,探讨热带印度洋上层水温的时空分布特征,剖析了热带印度洋混合层深度及印度洋暖水的季节变化规律。分析表明：热带印度洋的海表面温度低值区始终位于大洋的南部,而高值区呈现明显的季节变化,冬季位于赤道附近,在夏季则处于大洋的东北部;在热带印度洋的中西部、赤道偏南海域的次表层终年存在一冷心结构;热带印度洋表面风场的季节变化是影响该海域混合层深度季节性变化的主要因素;印度洋暖水在冬、春季范围较大,与西太平洋暖池相连,而在夏、秋季范围较小,并与西太平洋暖池分开。     

Spatial and temporal structure of Tropical Pacific interannual variability in 20th century coupled simulations

Tropical Pacific interannual variability is examined in nine state-of-the-art coupled climate models, and compared with observations and ocean analyses data sets, the primary focus being on the spatial structure and spectral characteristics of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The spatial patterns of interannual sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies from the coupled models are characterized by maximum variations displaced from the coast of South America, and generally extending too far west with respect to observations. Thermocline variability is characterized by dominant modes that are qualitatively similar in all the models, and consistent with the “recharge oscillator” paradigm for ENSO. The meridional scale of the thermocline depth anomalies is generally narrower than observed, a result that can be related to the pattern of zonal wind stress perturbations in the central-western equatorial Pacific. The wind stress response to eastern equatorial Pacific SST anomalies in the models is narrower and displaced further west than observed. The meridional scale of the wind stress can affect the amount of warm water involved in the recharge/discharge of the equatorial thermocline, while the longitudinal location of the wind stress anomalies can influence the advection of the mean zonal temperature gradient by the anomalous zonal currents, a process that may favor the growth and longer duration of ENSO events when the wind stress perturbations are displaced eastwards. Thus, both discrepancies of the wind stress anomaly patterns in the coupled models with respect to observations (narrow meridional extent, and westward displacement along the equator) may be responsible for the ENSO timescale being shorter in the models than in observations. The examination of the leading advective processes in the SST tendency equation indicates that vertical advection of temperature anomalies tends to favor ENSO growth in all the CGCMs, but at a smaller rate than in observations. In some models it can also promote a phase transition. Longer periods tend to be associated with thermocline and advective feedbacks that are in phase with the SST anomalies, while advective tendencies that lead the SST anomalies by a quarter cycle favor ENSO transitions, thus leading to a shorter period.     

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.     

两类厄尔尼诺事件期间热带大气GILL响应分析

分析了1979-2018年两类厄尔尼诺事件期间月平均热带太平洋海面温度(sea surface temperature,SST)异常、对流降水异常、大气环流异常等特征,发现东部型、中部型厄尔尼诺期间海洋及大气加热场并不是赤道对称,赤道以南热源强度大于赤道以北.大气对热源的响应表现在:1)低层在大气热源西侧出现南、北半球...     

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.     

Formation mechanism of the Weddell Sea Polynya and the impact on the global abyssal ocean

An experiment using a global ocean–ice model with an interannual forcing data set was conducted to understand the variability in the Southern Ocean. A winter-persisting polynya in the Weddell Sea (the Weddell Polynya, WP) was simulated. The process of WP breaking out after no-WP years was explored using the successive WPs found in the late 1950s. The results suggested that the anomalously warm deep water, saline surface layer, and a cyclonic wind stress over the Maud polynya region in early winter are essential for the surface layer to be dense enough to trigger deep convections which maintain a winter-persisting polynya; also, the reanalyzed surface air temperature (SAT) over the observed polynya region is too high for an ocean–ice model’s bulk formula to yield sufficient upward heat fluxes to induce WP formation. Therefore the Weddell Polynya, a series of WPs observed from satellite in the mid-1970s, is reproduced by replacing the SAT with a climatological one. Subsequent to the successive WP events, density anomalies excited in the Weddell Sea propagate northward in the Atlantic deep basins. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is enhanced through the increased meridional density gradient. The enhanced ACC and its meandering over the abyssal ridges excite buoyancy anomalies near the bottom at the southwestern end of the South Pacific basin. The buoyancy signals propagate northward and eventually arrive in the northern North Pacific.