REGIONAL DIFFERENCES OF TEMPORAL-SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AIR-SEA INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL OCEANS

The singular value decomposition (SVD) of air-sea interaction in the tropical western,central,and eastern Pacific,and the tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans has been conducted by using theNCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis 1000 hPa monthly wind field and COADS monthly sea surfacetemperature (SST).Comparisons of the results suggest that these areas can be divided into threetypes from the viewpoint of air-sea interaction:tropical central-eastern Pacific belongs to monistictype,in which ENSO is the sole important process;tropical western Pacific and Indian Oceansbelong to dualistic type,in which in addition to ENSO.there should be an another importantprocess;tropical Atlantic Ocean belongs to pluralistic type,in which the process is complicatedand the ENSO cycle is not evident.     

热带海洋海气相互作用的区域差异

用NCEP/NCAR40年再分析1000hPa月平均风场资料及COADS月平均海表温度资料，对热带西、中、东太平洋、热带大西洋和印度洋五个区域的海气异常作了奇异值分解（SVD）。比较区域间SVD的主要参数和分析第一奇异向量及其时间系数表明，热带海气相互作用可区分为三类；热带东、中太平洋属‘单元型’，ENSO是唯一重要的过程，热带西太平洋、印度洋属‘二元型’，除了ENSO过程，还应存在唯一重要的过程；热带西太平洋，印度洋属‘二元型’，除了ENSO过程还应存在另一重要过程，热带大西洋属‘多元型’，其构成复杂，ENSO循环则不明显。     

热带海表温度和低层风场的年际变率及与ENSO循环的相关特征研究

采用 NCEP/NCAR的 1 979～ 1 998年逐月平均的海表温度及 1 0 0 0 h Pa风场资料 ,进行滤波和均方差计算 ,得到了热带太平洋、印度洋、大西洋海表温度 (SST)和风场的年际变化特征。用旋转主分量 (RPC)方法和投影法对热带三大洋海表温度距平 (SSTA)进行分析 ,得到了各大洋 SSTA演变的主要时空特征和相应的距平风场特征 ;并用相关分析研究热带三大洋与ENSO相关的特征 ,得到三大洋间的同期相关关系为 :印度洋 SSTA与赤道东太平洋 SSTA成正相关 ,而赤道东大西洋 SSTA与赤道东太平洋 SSTA成弱的负相关 ;赤道印度洋在落后于赤道东太平洋 3个月左右时正相关达到最大 ,赤道大西洋在超前于赤道东太平洋 6个月左右时负相关达到最大 ;热带印度洋和大西洋与 ENSO相关的分量对各自大洋海表温度年际变化的方差贡献数值相近 ,最大在 40 %以上 ,平均解释方差分别为 1 4%和 1 2 %。     

IMPACTS OF THE TROPICAL PACIFIC COUPLED PROCESS ON THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

The basic features of climatology and interannual variations of tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans were analyzed using a coupled general circulation model (CGCM), which was constituted with an intermediate 2.5-layer ocean model and atmosphere model ECHAM4. The CGCM well captures the spatial and temporal structure of the Pacific El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the variability features in the tropical Indian Ocean. The influence of Pacific air-sea coupled process on the Indian Ocean variability was investigated carefully by conducting numerical experiments. Results show that the occurrence frequency of positive/negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event will decrease/increase with the presence/absence of the coupled process in the Pacific Ocean. Further analysis demonstrated that the air-sea coupled process in the Pacific Ocean affects the IOD variability mainly by influencing the zonal gradient of thermocline via modulating the background sea surface wind.     

A DIAGNOSIS OF THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SURFACE WIND FIELD IN THE TROPICAL OCEANS AND ITS CORRELATIVE CHARACTERS WITH ENSO CYCLE*

Utilizing the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis monthly datasets,and based on the filter and standard deviation calculation,the interannual variability of sea surface temperature (SST) and 1000 hPa wind field for the tropical Pacific,Indian and Atlantic Oceans is investigated for the past 20 years (1979-1998).The characters of space-time evolution in SST anomalies (SSTA) for each ocean and corresponding wind anomaly field are acquired by using rotated principal component (RPC) and linear regression analysis methods.Using the method of correlation analysis.the characters of three tropical oceans correlated with ENSO are investigated.The contemporary correlation between the SSTA in the Indian Ocean and in the equatorial eastern Pacific is positive,and there is a weak negative correlation between the SSTA in the equatorial east Atlantic Ocean and in the equatorial eastern Pacific.The lead-lag correlation analysis indicates that the SSTA in the equatorial Indian Ocean lags the dominant Pacific ENSO mode by 3 months,and the SSTA in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean leads ENSO mode by 6 months.The ENSO-correlated components in tropical Indian Ocean and tropical Atlantic Ocean display much the same amount of total variance in each ocean,i.e..14% in the Indian Ocean and 12% in the Atlantic Ocean and the maximums are all above 40%.     

A Review of Research on Tropical Air-Sea Interaction,ENSO Dynamics,and ENSO Prediction in China

Remarkable progress has been made in observations, theories, and simulations of the ocean-atmosphere system, laying a solid foundation for the improvement of short-term climate prediction, among which Chinese scientists have made important contributions. This paper reviews Chinese research on tropical air-sea interaction, ENSO dynamics, and ENSO prediction in the past 70 years. Review of the tropical air-sea interaction mainly focuses on four aspects: characteristics of the tropical Pacific climate system and ENSO; main modes of tropical Indian Ocean SSTs and their interactions with the tropical Pacific; main modes of tropical Atlantic SSTs and inter-basin interactions; and influences of the mid-high-latitude air-sea system on ENSO. Review of the ENSO dynamics involves seven aspects: fundamental theories of ENSO; diagnosis and simulation of ENSO; the two types of ENSO; mechanisms of ENSO initiation; the interactions between ENSO and other phenomena; external forcings and teleconnections; and climate change and the ENSO response. The ENSO prediction part briefly summarizes the dynamical-statistical methods used in ENSO prediction, as well as the operational ENSO prediction systems and their applications. Lastly, we discuss some of the issues in these areas that are in need of further study.     

中国热带海-气相互作用与ENSO动力学及预测研究进展

国际上针对海洋-大气系统的观测、理论和模拟方面已经开展了广泛而深入的研究,为短期气候预测水平的不断提升奠定了坚实基础,这其中中国学者做出了许多重要贡献。文中简要回顾了中国学者70年来在热带海-气相互作用与ENSO动力学及预测方面的研究进展。其中,热带海-气相互作用部分主要涉及4个方面的内容:热带太平洋气候特征与ENSO现象、热带印度洋海温主要模态及其与太平洋相互作用、热带大西洋海温主要模态及与海盆的相互作用、中高纬度海-气系统对ENSO的影响;ENSO动力学包括7个方面的内容:基本理论的相关研究、ENSO相关的诊断与模拟研究、两类ENSO相关研究、ENSO触发机制相关研究、ENSO与其他现象的相互作用、外部强迫与大气遥相关、气候变化与ENSO响应;ENSO预测主要包括2个方面的内容:动力-统计ENSO预测方法、ENSO预测系统与应用。最后,还讨论了上述相关方面亟待解决的问题。      

The ENSO Events in the Tropical Pacific and Dipole Events in the Indian Ocean

A depth map (close to that of the thermocline as defined by 20℃) of climatically maximum seatemperature anomaly was created at the subsurface of the tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean, based on which the evolving sea-temperature anomaly at this depth map from 1960 to 2000 was statistically analyzed. It is noted that the evolving sea temperature anomaly at this depth map can be better analyzed than the evolving sea surface one. For example, during the ENSO event in the tropical Pacific, the seatemperature anomaly signals travel counter-clockwise within the range of 10°S-10°N, and while moving, the signals change in intensity or even type. If Dipole is used in the tropical Indian Ocean for analyzing the depth map of maximum sea-temperature anomaly, the sea-temperature anomalies of the eastern and western Indian Oceans would be negatively correlated in statistical sense (Dipole in real physical sense), which is unlike the sea surface temperature anomaly based analysis which demonstrates that the inter-annual positive and negative changes only occur on the gradients of the western and eastern temperature anomalies. Further analysis shows that the development of ENSO and Dipole has a time lag features statistically, with the sea-temperature anomaly in the eastern equatorial Pacific changing earlier (by three months or so). And the linkage between these two changes is a pair of coupled evolving Walker circulations that move reversely in the equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans.     

Southern Hemisphere extra-tropical forcing: a new paradigm for El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation

The main goal of this paper is to shed additional light on the reciprocal dynamical linkages between mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere climate and the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signal. While our analysis confirms that ENSO is a dominant source of interannual variability in the Southern Hemisphere, it is also suggested here that subtropical dipole variability in both the Southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans triggered by Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude variability may also provide a controlling influence on ENSO in the equatorial Pacific. This subtropical forcing operates through various coupled air?Csea feedbacks involving the propagation of subtropical sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies into the deep tropics of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans from boreal winter to boreal spring and a subsequent dynamical atmospheric response to these SST anomalies linking the three tropical basins at the beginning of the boreal spring. This atmospheric response is characterized by a significant weakening of the equatorial Atlantic and Indian Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). This weakened ITCZ forces an equatorial ??cold Kelvin wave?? response in the middle to upper troposphere that extends eastward from the heat sink regions into the western Pacific. By modulating the vertical temperature gradient and the stability of the atmosphere over the equatorial western Pacific Ocean, this Kelvin wave response promotes persistent zonal wind and convective anomalies over the western equatorial Pacific, which may trigger El Ni?o onset at the end of the boreal winter. These different processes explain why South Atlantic and Indian subtropical dipole time series indices are highly significant precursors of the Ni?o34 SST index several months in advance before the El Ni?o onset in the equatorial Pacific. This study illustrates that the atmospheric internal variability in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere may significantly influence ENSO variability. However, this surprising relationship is observed only during recent decades, after the so-called 1976/1977 climate regime shift, suggesting a possible linkage with global warming or decadal fluctuations of the climate system.     

SEASONAL DEPENDENCE OF LOCAL AIR-SEA INTERACTION OVER THE TROPICAL WESTERN PACIFIC WARM POOL

Based on the air-sea interface heat fluxes and related meteorological variables datasets recently released by Objectively Analyzed Air-Sea Fluxes (OA Flux) Project of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as well as the outgoing longwave radiation and surface wind datasets from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the seasonal dependence of local air-sea interaction over the tropical western Pacific warm pool (referred to the region (1o-6oN, 144o-154oE)) is revealed and the probable impacts of remote forcing on the air-sea interaction are examined. The results indicated the dominance of oceanic forcing with the significant impact of ENSO in March and that of atmospheric feedback without notable influence of remote forcing in June. While the interannual variability of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) is larger than that of SSTA tendency when oceanic forcing is dominant, the opposite is true when atmospheric feedback is dominant. The magnitude of the oceanic forcing of the atmosphere tends to decrease in March with the occurrence of ENSO, though ENSO has little influence on the atmospheric feedback to the ocean in June. The local air-sea interaction is substantially the same before and after the removal of the effect of Indian Oceanic Dipole. The reduction of shortwave radiation fluxes into the western Pacific warm pool, due to the enhanced overlaying convection in March associated with ENSO, leads to the decline of SST tendency that will weaken the oceanic forcing of the atmosphere.     

关于ENSO本质的进一步研究

基于ENSO是热带太平洋海气相互作用产物的科学观点,一系列的分析研究表明:赤道太平洋次表层海温异常(SOTA)有明显的年际变化(循环),并且与ENSO发生密切相关;ENSO的真正源区在赤道西太平洋暖池,赤道西太平洋暖池正(负)SOTA沿赤道温跃层东传到东太平洋,导致El Nino(La Nina)的爆发;在暖池正(负)SOTA沿赤道温跃层东传的同时,将有负(正)SOTA沿10°N和10°S两个纬度带向西传播,从而构成SOTA的循环;热带太平洋SOTA年际循环的驱动者主要是由异常东亚季风所引起的赤道西太平洋纬向风的异常.进而,可以提出关于ENSO本质的一种新理论,即ENSO实质上主要是由异常东亚季风引起的赤道西太平洋异常纬向风所驱动的热带太平洋次表层海温距平的年际循环.       

Recent advances in studies of the interaction between the East Asian winter and summer monsoons and ENSO cycle

Recent advances in studies on the interaction between the East Asian monsoon and the ENSO cycle are reviewed in this paper. Through the recent studies, not only have the responding features and processes of the East Asian winter and summer monsoon circulation anomalies and summer rainfall anomalies in East Asia to the ENSO cycle during its different stages been understood further, but also have the thermal and dynamic effects of the tropical western Pacific on the ENSO cycle been deeply analyzed from the observational facts and dynamic theories. The results of observational and theoretical studies showed that the dynamical effect of the atmospheric circulation and zonal wind anomalies in the lower troposphere over the tropical western Pacific on the ENSO cycle may be through the excitation of the equatorial oceanic Kelvin wave and Rossby waves in the equatorial Pacific. These studies demonstrated further that the ENSO cycle originates from the tropical western Pacific. Moreover, these recent studies also showed that the atmospheric circulation and zonal wind anomalies over the tropical western Pacific not only result from the air-sea interaction over the tropical western Pacific, but are also greatly influenced by the East Asian winter and summer monsoons. Additionally, the scientific problems in the interaction between the Asian monsoon and the ENSO cycle which should be studied further in the near future are also pointed out in this paper.     

Weak ENSO Asymmetry Due to Weak Nonlinear Air–Sea Interaction in CMIP5 Climate Models

State-of-the-art climate models have long-standing intrinsic biases that limit their simulation and projection capabilities.Significantly weak ENSO asymmetry and weakly nonlinear air–sea interaction over the tropical Pacific was found in CMIP5(Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5) climate models compared with observation. The results suggest that a weak nonlinear air–sea interaction may play a role in the weak ENSO asymmetry. Moreover, a weak nonlinearity in air–sea interaction in the models may be associated with the biases in the mean climate—the cold biases in the equatorial central Pacific. The excessive cold tongue bias pushes the deep convection far west to the western Pacific warm pool region and suppresses its development in the central equatorial Pacific. The deep convection has difficulties in further moving to the eastern equatorial Pacific, especially during extreme El Ni o events, which confines the westerly wind anomaly to the western Pacific. This weakens the eastern Pacific El Ni o events, especially the extreme El Ni o events, and thus leads to the weakened ENSO asymmetry in climate models. An accurate mean state structure(especially a realistic cold tongue and deep convection) is critical to reproducing ENSO events in climate models. Our evaluation also revealed that ENSO statistics in CMIP5 climate models are slightly improved compared with those of CMIP3. The weak ENSO asymmetry in CMIP5 is closer to the observation. It is more evident in CMIP5 that strong ENSO activities are usually accompanied by strong ENSO asymmetry, and the diversity of ENSO amplitude is reduced.     

影响南海夏季风爆发年际变化的关键海区及机制初探

利用1958—2011年NCEP/ NCAR再分析资料和ERSST资料,采用Lanczos时间滤波器、相关分析、回归分析、合成分析和交叉检验等方法,研究了影响南海夏季风爆发年际变化的关键海区海温异常的来源与可能机制。结果表明,前冬(12—2月)热带西南印度洋和热带西北太平洋是影响南海夏季风爆发年际变化的关键海区。冬季热带西南印度洋(热带西北太平洋)的异常增暖是由前一年夏季El Ni?o早爆发(强印度季风异常驱动的行星尺度东-西向环流)触发、热带印度洋(西北太平洋)局地海气正反馈过程引起并维持到春季。冬季热带西北太平洋反气旋性环流(气旋性环流)及印度洋(热带西北太平洋)的暖海区局地海气相互作用使得印度洋(热带西北太平洋)海温异常维持到春末。春季,逐渐加强北移到10 °N附近的低层大气对北印度洋(热带西北太平洋)暖海温异常响应的东风急流(异常西风)及南海-热带西北太平洋维持的反气旋性环流(气旋性环流)异常,使得南海夏季风晚(早)爆发。      

全球海气相互作用关键区及区内气候特征分析

采用合成分析方法研究了南海夏季风的爆发过程及其前期征兆。研究结果表明，在南海夏季风爆发之前，对流首先在中南半岛出现，随后在临近南海夏季风爆发时，菲律宾附近也出现对流活动，这表明菲律宾附近对流活动的出现也是引起南海夏季风爆发的原因之一。在南海夏季风爆发之前，赤道印度洋上（75～95°E）的赤道西风有一次明显的增强过程，它对南海夏季风的爆发也起了十分重要的作用，因为一方面它通过赤道西风的东扩促使南海南部的赤道西风建立和增强；另一方面，它又通过西风的北抬以及激发孟加拉湾的对流扰动发展和北移东传，诱使我国华南沿海西风的增强和南压，从而对南海夏季风爆发产生影响。进一步的研究还表明，印度洋赤道西风和南海南部赤道西风的增强又分别与南半球马斯克林高压、澳大利亚高压的增强以及索马里、85°E附近和105 °E附近向北越赤道气流的增强有关。     

A GLOBAL VIEW OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENSO AND TROPICAL CYCLONE FREQUENCIES

The relationship between tropical cyclone activity and ENSO is examined for the major cyclone regions using crosscorrelations,spectral analysis and composite analysis of eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature,thenormalised monthly Southern Oscillation Index(SOI),and tropical cyclone frequencies.The closest relationship betweenthe 3—4 year ENSO period and tropical cyclone activity was found in the western North Pacific west of 160°E and thereseems to be significant potential for seasonal forecasting in this region based on ENSO parameters alone.No significantrelationships were found for the North Indian Ocean,and the remainder of the basins were dominated by oscillationsnear the quasi-biennial period.Physical explanations and forecasting of the seasonal variations in tropical cyclone num-bers in these regions will need to account for the QBO as well as the 3—4 year ENSO connections.     

Seasonality and time scales in the relationship between global SST and African rainfall

The main goal of this study is to determine the oceanic regions corresponding to variability in African rainfall and seasonal differences in the atmospheric teleconnections. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) has been applied in order to extract the dominant patterns of linear covariability. An ensemble of six simulations with the global atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM4, forced with observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea ice boundary variability, is used in order to focus on the SST-related part of African rainfall variability. Our main finding is that the boreal summer rainfall (June–September mean) over Africa is more affected by SST changes than in boreal winter (December–March mean). In winter, there is a highly significant link between tropical African rainfall and Indian Ocean and eastern tropical Pacific SST anomalies, which is closely related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, long-term changes are found to be associated with SST changes in the Indian and tropical Atlantic Oceans, thus, showing that the tropical Atlantic plays a critical role in determining the position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Since ENSO is less in summer, the tropical Pacific and the Indian Oceans are less important for African rainfall. The African summer monsoon is strongly influenced by SST variations in the Gulf of Guinea, with a response of opposite sign over the Sahelian zone and the Guinean coast region. SST changes in the subtropical and extratropical oceans mostly take place on decadal time scales and are responsible for low-frequency rainfall fluctuations over West Africa. The modelled teleconnections are highly consistent with the observations. The agreement for most of the teleconnection patterns is remarkable and suggests that the modelled rainfall anomalies serve as suitable predictors for the observed changes.     

热带太平洋海气耦合过程对印度洋年际变化的影响

利用中等复杂程度的2.5层海洋模式和大气环流模式ECHAM4组成的海气耦合模式,模拟分析了热带太平洋和印度洋的气候变化以及年际变化特征。该模式较好地模拟了ENSO现象的空间分布及其不规则的周期变化特征,以及热带印度洋的主要变化特征。通过数值试验,初步研究了太平洋耦合过程对印度洋年际变化的影响。结果显示,当存在太平洋耦合过程时,模拟的印度洋偶极子(IOD)正(负)事件的发生频率比无太平洋耦合情形时有所减少(增加)。该变化是太平洋耦合变量通过海气耦合过程对印度洋海表面平均风场进行调整,进而引起热带印度洋温跃层深度东西梯度改变的结果。     

热带太平洋-印度洋海表温度变化及其对西南地区东部夏季旱涝的影响

利用1959—2006 年西南地区东部20 个测站逐日降水量资料和NCEP/NCAR 再分析月平均资料,分析了热带太平洋-印度洋海表温度异常特征及其对西南地区东部夏季降水(旱涝)的影响,结果表明:前期赤道东太平洋海表温度偏高,西南地区东部夏季降水偏多的可能性大;当前期春季印度洋海表温度偏高时,西南地区东部夏季降水可能偏多。太平洋区的海表温度距平(SSTA)分布呈“V”字型特征,赤道中东太平洋及南、北美西部沿海的SSTA 与赤道西太平洋、南北太平洋的SSTA 呈反相关分布,与西太平洋的亚洲大陆东部沿海的SSTA 呈正相关,赤道印度洋及南印度洋的大部分地区的SSTA 与赤道中、东太平洋的SSTA 变化是一致的。当春季赤道中东太平洋及印度洋海表温度(SST)偏高(偏低)时,夏季南亚高压位置偏南(偏北),强度偏强(偏弱),面积偏大(偏小),同时西太平洋副高强度偏强(偏弱),面积偏大(偏小),位置偏南(偏北),西伸(东退)明显,东亚夏季风和南亚夏季风偏弱(偏强),我国华北及华南地区盛行下沉(上升)运动,而整个长江流域及青藏高原东部盛行上升(下沉)运动,西南地区东部也盛行弱的上升(下沉)运动,这有利于西南地区东部降水偏多(偏少),出现洪涝(干旱)的可能性大。      

THE EXCITING MECHANISM OF TROPICAL INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATION TO EL NINO EVENT

The data analyses indicated that the occurrence of EL Nino event is closely related to intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) in the tropical atmosphere: The intraseasonal oscillation is very strong in tile tropics (particularly over the equatorial western Pacific) prior to the occurrence of El Nino; But the ISO is evidently reduced and the quasistationary system is enhanced after the outbreak of El Nino. A simple air-sea coupled model study shows that the periodical self-excited oscillation can be produced in the air-sea-coupled system, but the pattern is different from the observed ENSO mode. When there is external (atmospheric) forcing with interannual time scale, a coupled mode, which looks like the ENSO mode, will be excited in the air-sea system. Synthesizing the results in data analyses and the theoretical investigation. the mechanism of ISO in the tropical atmosphere exciting the El Nino event can be suggested : The interannual anomalies (variations) of the tropical ISO play an important role in the exciting El Nino event through the air-sea interaction.