Boreal Spring El Niño Convective State and Its Impact on Monsoon Onset

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Neena ◽  
E. Suhas ◽  
R. Murtugudde
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Monsoon Onset ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
Convective State

The Impacts of Inter–El Niño Variability on the Tropical Atlantic and Northeast Brazil Climate

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (13) ◽  
pp. 3402-3422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina R. Rodrigues ◽  
Reindert J. Haarsma ◽  
Edmo J. D. Campos ◽  
Tércio Ambrizzi
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Boreal Winter ◽  
Cold Tongue ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
Benguela Upwelling ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Abstract In this study, observations and numerical simulations are used to investigate how different El Niño events affect the development of SST anomalies in the Atlantic and how this relates to the Brazilian northeast (NE) precipitation. The results show that different types of El Niño have different impacts on the SST anomalies of the equatorial and tropical South Atlantic but a similar SST response in the tropical North Atlantic. Strong and long (weak and short) El Niños with the main heating source located in the eastern (central) Pacific generate cold (warm) anomalies in the cold tongue and Benguela upwelling regions during boreal winter and spring. When the SST anomalies in the eastern equatorial and tropical South Atlantic are cold (warm), the meridional SST gradient across the equator is positive (negative) and the ITCZ is not allowed (allowed) to move southward during the boreal spring; as a consequence, the precipitation is below (above) the average over the NE. Thus, strong and long (weak and short) El Niños are followed by dry (wet) conditions in the NE. During strong and long El Niños, changes in the Walker circulation over the Atlantic and in the Pacific–South Atlantic (PSA) wave train cause easterly wind anomalies in the western equatorial Atlantic, which in turn activate the Bjerknes mechanism, establishing the cold tongue in boreal spring and summer. These easterly anomalies are also responsible for the Benguela upwelling. During short and weak El Niños, westerly wind anomalies are present in the western equatorial Atlantic accompanied by warm anomalies in the eastern equatorial and tropical South Atlantic; a positive phase of the South Atlantic dipole develops during boreal winter. The simulations highlight the importance of ocean dynamics in establishing the correct slope of the equatorial thermocline and SST anomalies, which in turn determine the correct rainfall response over the NE.

scholarly journals Interannual Variability of Summer Surface Air Temperature over Central India: Implications for Monsoon Onset

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1693-1706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen-Qiang Zhou ◽  
Renhe Zhang ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Central India ◽  
Monsoon Onset ◽  
Summer Monsoon Onset ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Abstract Year-to-year variability of surface air temperature (SAT) over central India is most pronounced in June. Climatologically over central India, SAT peaks in May, and the transition from the hot premonsoon to the cooler monsoon period takes place around 9 June, associated with the northeastward propagation of intraseasonal convective anomalies from the western equatorial Indian Ocean. Positive (negative) SAT anomalies during June correspond to a delayed (early) Indian summer monsoon onset and tend to occur during post–El Niño summers. On the interannual time scale, positive SAT anomalies of June over central India are associated with positive SST anomalies over both the equatorial eastern–central Pacific and Indian Oceans, representing El Niño effects in developing and decay years, respectively. Although El Niño peaks in winter, the correlations between winter El Niño and Indian SAT peak in the subsequent June, representing a post–El Niño summer capacitor effect associated with positive SST anomalies over the north Indian Ocean. These results have important implications for the prediction of Indian summer climate including both SAT and summer monsoon onset over central India.

scholarly journals On the Inconsistent Relationship between Pacific and Atlantic Niños*

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 4294-4303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joke F. Lübbecke ◽  
Michael J. McPhaden
Keyword(s):  
Wind Stress ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Tropical Atlantic ◽  
Cold Tongue ◽  
Trade Winds ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
Northern Tropical Atlantic

Abstract The tropical Atlantic wind response to El Niño forcing is robust, with weakened northeast trade winds north of the equator and strengthened southeast trade winds along and south of the equator. However, the relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific and Atlantic is inconsistent, with El Niño events followed sometimes by warm and other times by cold boreal summer anomalies in the Atlantic cold tongue region. Using observational data and a hindcast simulation of the Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean (NEMO) global model at 0.5° resolution (NEMO-ORCA05), this inconsistent SST relationship is shown to be at least partly attributable to a delayed negative feedback in the tropical Atlantic that is active in years with a warm or neutral response in the eastern equatorial Atlantic. In these years, the boreal spring warming in the northern tropical Atlantic that is a typical response to El Niño is pronounced, setting up a strong meridional SST gradient. This leads to a negative wind stress curl anomaly to the north of the equator that generates downwelling Rossby waves. When these waves reach the western boundary, they are reflected into downwelling equatorial Kelvin waves that reach the cold tongue region in late boreal summer to counteract the initial cooling that is due to the boreal winter wind stress response to El Niño. In contrast, this initial cooling persists or is amplified in years in which the boreal spring northern tropical Atlantic warming is weak or absent either because of a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) phase or an early termination of the Pacific El Niño event.

The Contribution of Boreal Spring South Pacific Atmospheric Variability to El Niño Occurrence

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (19) ◽  
pp. 8301-8313
Author(s):  
Qingye Min ◽  
Renhe Zhang
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
The South ◽  
Atmospheric Variability ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
El Niño Events ◽  
El Nino Events ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractDespite the fact that great efforts have been made to improve the prediction of El Niño events, it remains challenging because of limited understanding of El Niño and its precursors. This research focuses on the influence of South Pacific atmospheric variability on the development of the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the tropical Pacific. It is found that as early as in the boreal spring of El Niño years, the sea level pressure anomaly (SLPA) shows a configuration characterized by two significant negative anomaly centers in the north and a positive anomaly center in the south between the subtropics and high latitudes in South Pacific. Such an anomalous SLPA pattern becomes stronger in the following late boreal spring and summer associated with the strengthening of westerly anomalies in the tropical Pacific, weakening the southeasterly trade winds and promoting the warming of tropical eastern Pacific, which is conducive to the development of El Niño events. It is demonstrated that the SLPA pattern in boreal spring revealed in this study is closely associated with boreal summer South Pacific Oscillation (SPO) and South Pacific meridional mode (SPMM). As a precursor in boreal spring, the prediction skill of the South Pacific SLPA in boreal spring for the SSTA in the eastern equatorial Pacific is better than that of the SPMM. This study is helpful to deepen our understanding of the contribution of South Pacific extratropical atmospheric variability to El Niño occurrence.

Charge in Long-Lasting El Niño Events by Convection-Induced Wind Anomalies over the Western Pacific in Boreal Spring

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 3755-3763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenning Li ◽  
Song Yang ◽  
Xiaoming Hu ◽  
Wenjie Dong ◽  
Bian He
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Kelvin Waves ◽  
Easterly Wind ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
Convection Heating ◽  
El Niño Events ◽  
El Nino Events

Abstract In this study, El Niño events are classified as long El Niño (LE) events and short El Niño (SE) events based on their durations, and the characteristics of the early stages of these events are investigated. Results indicate that LE events tend to start earlier compared to SE events, initiating in boreal spring and peaking in winter. Their early occurrence is attributed to the western equatorial Pacific (WEP) sea surface wind anomalies that benefit the eastward propagation of warm water by forcing the downwelling Kelvin waves. It is also found that the wind anomalies are potentially induced by the convection anomalies over the WEP in spring. Experiments with a fully coupled climate model forced by convection heating anomalies over the WEP show that El Niño events become stronger and longer after introducing anomalous convection heating. The convection anomalies induce an extensive anomalous westerly belt over the WEP, which charges El Niño by eastward-propagating Kelvin waves. Moreover, induced by the anomalously northward-shifted ITCZ heating and the suppressed heating over the Maritime Continent, the equatorially asymmetric westerly belt reduces the meridional shear of mean easterly wind in the lower latitudes, which maintains an anomalous equatorward Sverdrup transport and in turn prolongs the persistence of El Niño events. A case study of the 2015/16 super El Niño and a regression study by using a rainfall index in critical regions support the above results.

scholarly journals Contrasting Impacts of Two Types of ENSO on the Boreal Spring Hadley Circulation

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 4773-4789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Feng ◽  
Jianping Li
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
Meridional Circulation ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Asymmetric Structure ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
El Niño Modoki ◽  
Symmetric Pattern ◽  
Enso Modoki

Abstract The possible influences of two types of ENSO [i.e., the canonical ENSO and ENSO Modoki (EM)] on Hadley circulation (HC) during the boreal spring are investigated during 1979–2010. El Niño events are featured with a symmetric pattern in equatorial zonal-mean sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA), with a maximum around the equator. In contrast, the zonal-mean SSTA associated with El Niño Modoki events shows an asymmetric structure with a maximum around 10°N. The contrasting underlying thermal structures corresponding with ENSO and EM have opposite impacts on the simultaneous HC. In El Niño years, a symmetric anomalous meridional circulation is seen, with enhanced rising around the equator and anomalous descent at about 15°N and 20°S. In contrast, an asymmetric equatorial meridional circulation is observed for El Niño Modoki years, with anomalous ascent around 10°N and descent at about 10°S and 20°N. The contrasting meridional circulation anomalies within ENSO and EM are caused by their different meridional SSTA structure. This result is theoretically explained, indicating that anomalous meridional circulation is subject to the meridional SSTA gradient. Moreover, the observed results are reproduced in numerical experiments driven by anomalous warming in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. Thus, the authors conclude that the anomalous HC linked to ENSO and EM is induced by the accompanying meridional gradient in zonal-mean SSTA.

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