Winter precipitation variability over Korean Peninsula associated with ENSO

In this study, winter precipitation variability associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over the Korean Peninsula was investigated using a 5-pentad running mean data because significant correlation pattern cannot be revealed using seasonal-mean data. It was found a considerably significant positive correlation between Niño3 sea-surface temperature and precipitation during early winter (from Mid-November to early-December), when the correlation coefficient is close to 0.8 in early-December; the correlation is distinctively weakened during late winter. It is demonstrated that such sudden intraseasonal change in relation to ENSO is associated with the presence of anticyclonic flow over the Kuroshio extension region (Kuroshio anticyclone). In early winter, there is strong southerly wind over the Korean Peninsula, which is induced by the Philippine Sea anticyclone and Kuroshio anticyclone. However, in January, although the Philippine Sea anticyclone develops further, the Kuroshio anticyclone suddenly disappears; as a result, the impact of ENSO is considerably weakened over the Korean Peninsula. These results indicate that the Kuroshio anticyclone during El Niño peak phase plays a critical role by strongly affecting Northeast Asia climate, including the Korean Peninsula. In addition, it is also found that there are distinctive interdecadal changes of the relationship between ENSO and precipitation over the Korean Peninsula. In particular, the strong correlation in early winter is clearer in the recent 30 years than that in the previous period of 1950–1979.     

Mechanism of skillful seasonal surface chlorophyll prediction over the southern Pacific using a global earth system model

Climate Dynamics - This study investigates the physical mechanism involved in an Earth system model (ESM)-based global marine biogeochemical prediction system providing successful forecasts of...     

Impact of bio-physical feedbacks on the tropical climate in coupled and uncoupled GCMs

The bio-physical feedback process between the marine ecosystem and the tropical climate system is investigated using both an ocean circulation model and a fully-coupled ocean–atmosphere circulation model, which interact with a biogeochemical model. We found that the presence of chlorophyll can have significant impact on the characteristics of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), including its amplitude and asymmetry, as well as on the mean state. That is, chlorophyll generally increases mean sea surface temperature (SST) due to the direct biological heating. However, SST in the eastern equatorial Pacific decreases due to the stronger indirect dynamical response to the biological effects outweighing the direct thermal response. It is demonstrated that this biologically-induced SST cooling is intensified and conveyed to other tropical-ocean basins when atmosphere–ocean coupling is taken into account. It is also found that the presence of chlorophyll affects the magnitude of ENSO by two different mechanisms; one is an amplifying effect by the mean chlorophyll, which is associated with shoaling of the mean thermocline depth, and the other is a damping effect derived from the interactively-varying chlorophyll coupled with the physical model. The atmosphere–ocean coupling reduces the biologically-induced ENSO amplifying effect through the weakening of atmospheric feedback. Lastly, there is also a biological impact on ENSO which enhances the positive skewness. This skewness change is presumably caused by the phase dependency of thermocline feedback which affects the ENSO magnitude.     

Favorable connections between seasonal footprinting mechanism and El Niño

Previous studies suggested that the wintertime SST in the North Pacific that are generated by the concurrent North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) are able to force El Niño during subsequent winter via the so-called ‘seasonal footprinting mechanism’ (SFM). We examine how the NPO effectively generates the El Niño via the SFM in the observations and models. The occurrence ratio for El Niño under conditions of NPO forcing during the previous winters is about 41 % for the period of 61 years (1949–2009), indicating that the atmospheric forcing from the mid-latitudes through the SFM does not always trigger an El Niño. We observed certain favorable conditions under which the SFM may effectively induce El Niño. We directly compared these observations with two cases: when the wintertime NPO leads to El Niño during the following winter through the SFM, and when the wintertime NPO is not followed by El Niño. Our analysis demonstrates that the spatial structures of the NPO, associated wind speed and net heat flux in the northeast Pacific, differ between the two cases. Such differences determine the existence of a footprint SST in the northeastern Pacific during the late spring and summer, which plays a key role in initiating the El Niño via the projection of westerly wind stress anomalies onto the equatorial Pacific during the same seasons. By conducting linear baroclinic model experiments, it is found that the positions of La Niña SST forcing during the previous winter are able to modify the spatial structures of the NPO, which produces favorable conditions for the El Niño during subsequent winter via the SFM.     

Marine biological feedback associated with Indian Ocean Dipole in a coupled ocean/biogeochemical model

The impact of marine ecosystem on the tropical climate variability in the Indian Ocean is investigated by performing coupled ocean/biogeochemical model experiments, which are forced by realistic surface winds from 1951 to 2010. Results from a suite of chlorophyll perturbation experiments reveal that the presence of chlorophyll can have significant effects on the characteristics of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), including its amplitude and skewness, as well as on the mean state. Specifically, chlorophyll increases mean sea surface temperature due to direct biological heating in regions where the mean mixed layer depth is generally shallow. It is also found that the presence of chlorophyll affects the IOD magnitude by two different processes: One is the amplifying effect by the mean chlorophyll, which leads to shoaling of mean thermocline depth, and the other is the damping effect by the interactively varying chlorophyll coupled with the physical model. There is also a biological impact on the skewness of the IOD, resulting in enhanced positive skewness. This skewness change is primarily caused by the phase dependency of the above two contradicting effects involving the asymmetric thermocline feedback and the nonlinear mixed layer heating.