scholarly journals El Niño and La Niña sea surface temperature anomalies: Asymmetry characteristics associated with their wind stress anomalies

2002 ◽  
Vol 107 (D19) ◽  
Author(s):  
In-Sik Kang
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Temperature Anomalies ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

Sea Surface Temperature in the Subtropical Pacific Boosted the 2015 El Niño and Hindered the 2016 La Niña

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 877-893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingzhi Su ◽  
Renhe Zhang ◽  
Xinyao Rong ◽  
Qingye Min ◽  
Congwen Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Equatorial Region ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Super El Niño

After the quick decaying of the 2015 super El Niño, the predicted La Niña unexpectedly failed to materialize to the anticipated standard in 2016. Diagnostic analyses, as well as numerical experiments, showed that this ENSO evolution of the 2015 super El Niño and the hindered 2016 La Niña may be essentially caused by sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in the subtropical Pacific. The self-sustaining SSTAs in the subtropical Pacific tend to weaken the trade winds during boreal spring–summer, leading to anomalous westerlies along the equatorial region over a period of more than one season. Such long-lasting wind anomalies provide an essential requirement for ENSO formation, particularly before a positive Bjerknes feedback is thoroughly built up between the oceanic and atmospheric states. Besides the 2015 super El Niño and the hindered La Niña in 2016, there were several other El Niño and La Niña events that cannot be explained only by the oceanic heat content in the equatorial Pacific. However, the questions related to those eccentric El Niño and La Niña events can be well explained by suitable SSTAs in the subtropical Pacific. Thus, the leading SSTAs in the subtropical Pacific can be treated as an independent indicator for ENSO prediction, on the basis of the oceanic heat content inherent in the equatorial region. Because ENSO events have become more uncertain under the background of global warming and the Pacific decadal oscillation during recent decades, thorough investigation of the role of the subtropical Pacific in ENSO formation is urgently needed.

scholarly journals The influence of interannual and decadal Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature variability on Australian monsoon rainfall

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-58
Author(s):  
Hanna Heidemann ◽  
Joachim Ribbe ◽  
Tim Cowan ◽  
Benjamin J. Henley ◽  
Christa Pudmenzky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Cp El Niño ◽  
La Nina

AbstractMonsoonal rainfall varies substantially in Northern Australia (AUMR) on interannual, decadal and longer time scales, profoundly impacting natural systems and agricultural communities. Some of this variability arises in response to sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the Indo-Pacific linked to both the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Here we use observations to investigate unresolved issues regarding the influence of the IPO and ENSO on AUMR. Specifically, we show that during negative IPO phases, central Pacific (CP) El Niño events are associated with below average rainfall over northeast Australia, an anomalous anticyclonic pattern to the northwest of Australia, and eastward moisture advection towards the Dateline. In contrast, CP La Niña events (distinct from eastern Pacific La Niña events) during negative IPO phases drive significantly wet conditions over much of northern Australia, a strengthened Walker Circulation, and large-scale moisture flux convergence. During positive IPO phases, the impact of CP El Niño and CP La Niña events on AUMR is weaker. The influence of central Pacific SSTs on AUMR has been stronger during the recent (post-1999) negative IPO phase. The extent to which this strengthening is associated with climate change or merely natural, internal variability is not known.

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