scholarly journals Global teleconnectivity structures of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and large volcanic eruptions – An evolving network perspective

Author(s):  
Tim Kittel ◽  
Catrin Ciemer ◽  
Nastaran Lotfi ◽  
Thomas Peron ◽  
Francisco Rodrigues ◽  
...  

Abstract. Recent work has provided ample evidence that global climate dynamics at time-scales between multiple weeks and several years can be severely affected by the episodic occurrence of both, internal (climatic) and external (non-climatic) perturbations. Here, we aim to improve our understanding on how regional to local disruptions of the “normal” state of the global surface air temperature field affect the corresponding global teleconnectivity structure. Specifically, we present an approach to quantify teleconnectivity based on different characteristics of functional climate network analysis. Subsequently, we apply this framework to study the impacts of different phases of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) as well as the three largest volcanic eruptions since the mid 20th century on the dominating spatio-temporal co-variability patterns of daily surface air temperatures. Our results confirm the existence of global effects of ENSO which result in episodic breakdowns of the hierarchical organization of the global temperature field. This is associated with the emergence of strong teleconnections. At more regional scales, similar effects are found after major volcanic eruptions. Taken together, the resulting time-dependent patterns of network connectivity allow a tracing of the spatial extents of the dominating effects of both types of climate disruptions. We discuss possible links between these observations and general aspects of atmospheric circulation.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Rivera

An alternative physical mechanism is proposed to describe the occurrence of the episodic El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and La Nina climatic phenomena. This is based on the earthquake-perturbed obliquity change (EPOCH) model previously discovered as a major cause of the global climate change problem. Massive quakes impart a very strong oceanic force that can move the moon which in turn pulls the earth’s axis and change the planetary obliquity. Analysis of the annual geomagnetic north-pole shift and global seismic data revealed this previously undiscovered force. Using a higher obliquity in the global climate model EdGCM and constant greenhouse gas forcing showed that the seismic-induced polar motion and associated enhanced obliquity could be the major mechanism governing the mysterious climate anomalies attributed to El Nino and La Nina cycles.


Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 339 (6115) ◽  
pp. 67-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim M. Cobb ◽  
Niko Westphal ◽  
Hussein R. Sayani ◽  
Jordan T. Watson ◽  
Emanuele Di Lorenzo ◽  
...  

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drives large changes in global climate patterns from year to year, yet its sensitivity to continued anthropogenic greenhouse forcing is uncertain. We analyzed fossil coral reconstructions of ENSO spanning the past 7000 years from the Northern Line Islands, located in the center of action for ENSO. The corals document highly variable ENSO activity, with no evidence for a systematic trend in ENSO variance, which is contrary to some models that exhibit a response to insolation forcing over this same period. Twentieth-century ENSO variance is significantly higher than average fossil coral ENSO variance but is not unprecedented. Our results suggest that forced changes in ENSO, whether natural or anthropogenic, may be difficult to detect against a background of large internal variability.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 13201-13236 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Rieder ◽  
L. Frossard ◽  
M. Ribatet ◽  
J. Staehelin ◽  
J. A. Maeder ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present the first spatial analysis of "fingerprints" of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and atmospheric aerosol load after major volcanic eruptions (El Chichón and Mt. Pinatubo) in extreme low and high (termed ELOs and EHOs, respectively) and mean values of total ozone for the northern and southern mid-latitudes (defined as the region between 30° and 60° north and south, respectively). Significant influence on ozone extremes was found for the warm ENSO phase in both hemispheres during spring, especially towards low latitudes, indicating the enhanced ozone transport from the tropics to the extra-tropics. Further, the results confirm findings of recent work on the connection between the ENSO phase and the strength and extent of the southern ozone "collar". For the volcanic eruptions the analysis confirms findings of earlier studies for the northern mid-latitudes and gives new insights for the Southern Hemisphere. The results provide evidence that the negative effect of the eruption of El Chichón might be partly compensated by a strong warm ENSO phase in 1982–83 at southern mid-latitudes. The strong west-east gradient in the coefficient estimates for the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and the analysis of the relationship between the AAO and ENSO phase, the extent and the position of the southern ozone "collar" and the polar vortex structure provide clear evidence for a dynamical "masking" of the volcanic signal at southern mid-latitudes. The paper also analyses the contribution of atmospheric dynamics and chemistry to long-term total ozone changes. Here, quite heterogeneous results have been found on spatial scales. In general the results show that EESC and the 11-yr solar cycle can be identified as major contributors to long-term ozone changes. However, a strong contribution of dynamical features (El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO)) to ozone variability and trends is found at a regional level. For the QBO (at 30 and 50 hPa), strong influence on total ozone variability and trends is found over large parts of the northern and southern mid-latitudes, especially towards equatorial latitudes. Strong influence of ENSO is found over the Northern and Southern Pacific, Central Europe and central southern mid-latitudes. For the NAO, strong influence on column ozone is found over Labrador/Greenland, the Eastern United States, the Euro-Atlantic Sector and Central Europe. For the NAO's southern counterpart, the AAO, strong influence on ozone variability and long-term changes is found at lower southern mid-latitudes, including the southern parts of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and central southern mid-latitudes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris S.M. Turney ◽  
Jonathan G. Palmer

AbstractSince the 1970s it has been recognised that Southern Hemisphere samples have a lower radiocarbon content than contemporaneous material in the Northern Hemisphere. This interhemispheric radiocarbon offset has traditionally been considered to be the result of a greater surface area in the southern ocean and high-latitude deepwater formation. This is despite the fact that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is known to play a significant role in controlling the interannual variability of atmospheric carbon dioxide by changing the flux of ‘old’ CO2 from the tropical Pacific. Here we demonstrate that over the past millennium, the Southern Hemisphere radiocarbon offset is characterised by a pervasive 80-yr cycle with a step shift in mean values coinciding with the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age. The observed changes suggest an ENSO-like role in influencing the interhemispheric radiocarbon difference, most probably modulated by the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, and supports a tropical role in forcing centennial-scale global climate change.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Rieder ◽  
L. Frossard ◽  
M. Ribatet ◽  
J. Staehelin ◽  
J. A. Maeder ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present the first spatial analysis of "fingerprints" of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and atmospheric aerosol load after major volcanic eruptions (El Chichón and Mt. Pinatubo) in extreme low and high (termed ELOs and EHOs, respectively) and mean values of total ozone for the northern and southern mid-latitudes (defined as the region between 30° and 60° north and south, respectively). Significant influence on ozone extremes was found for the warm ENSO phase in both hemispheres during spring, especially towards low latitudes, indicating the enhanced ozone transport from the tropics to the extra-tropics. Further, the results confirm findings of recent work on the connection between the ENSO phase and the strength and extent of the southern ozone "collar". For the volcanic eruptions the analysis confirms findings of earlier studies for the northern mid-latitudes and gives new insights for the Southern Hemisphere. The results provide evidence that the negative effect of the eruption of El Chichón might be partly compensated by a strong warm ENSO phase in 1982–1983 at southern mid-latitudes. The strong west-east gradient in the coefficient estimates for the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and the analysis of the relationship between the AAO and ENSO phase, the extent and the position of the southern ozone "collar" and the polar vortex structure provide clear evidence for a dynamical "masking" of the volcanic signal at southern mid-latitudes. The paper also analyses the contribution of atmospheric dynamics and chemistry to long-term total ozone changes. Here, quite heterogeneous results have been found on spatial scales. In general the results show that EESC and the 11-yr solar cycle can be identified as major contributors to long-term ozone changes. However, a strong contribution of dynamical features (El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO)) to ozone variability and trends is found at a regional level. For the QBO (at 30 and 50 hPa), strong influence on total ozone variability and trends is found over large parts of the northern and southern mid-latitudes, especially towards equatorial latitudes. Strong influence of ENSO is found over the Northern and Southern Pacific, Central Europe and central southern mid-latitudes. For the NAO, strong influence on column ozone is found over Labrador/Greenland, the Eastern United States, the Euro-Atlantic Sector, and Central Europe. For the NAO's southern counterpart, the AAO, strong influence on ozone variability and long-term changes is found at lower southern mid-latitudes, including the southern parts of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and central southern mid-latitudes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (15) ◽  
pp. 4661-4680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor A. Middlemas ◽  
Amy C. Clement ◽  
Brian Medeiros ◽  
Ben Kirtman

Abstract Cloud radiative feedbacks are disabled via “cloud-locking” in the Community Earth System Model, version 1.2 (CESM1.2), to result in a shift in El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) periodicity from 2–7 years to decadal time scales. We hypothesize that cloud radiative feedbacks may impact the periodicity in three ways: by 1) modulating heat flux locally into the equatorial Pacific subsurface through negative shortwave cloud feedback on sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA), 2) damping the persistence of subtropical southeast Pacific SSTA such that the South Pacific meridional mode impacts the duration of ENSO events, or 3) controlling the meridional width of off-equatorial westerly winds, which impacts the periodicity of ENSO by initiating longer Rossby waves. The result of cloud-locking in CESM1.2 contrasts that of another study, which found that cloud-locking in a different global climate model led to decreased ENSO magnitude across all time scales due to a lack of positive longwave feedback on the anomalous Walker circulation. CESM1.2 contains this positive longwave feedback on the anomalous Walker circulation, but either its influence on the surface is decoupled from ocean dynamics or the feedback is only active on interannual time scales. The roles of cloud radiative feedbacks in ENSO in other global climate models are additionally considered. In particular, it is shown that one cannot predict the role of cloud radiative feedbacks in ENSO through a multimodel diagnostic analysis. Instead, they must be directly altered.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2080
Author(s):  
Erika Collischonn ◽  
Bianca Marques Maio ◽  
Ricardo Brandolt

O El Niño/Oscilação Sul (ENOS) é uma oscilação conjunta oceano-atmosfera, que altera a Temperatura da Superfície do Mar (TSM), a pressão, o vento e a convecção tropical, principalmente no Oceano Pacífico, porém com reflexos na circulação atmosférica e no padrão de distribuição da precipitação em outras áreas do planeta, incluindo o sul do Brasil, conforme já comprovado por vários autores. Essa alteração de padrões pode aumentar o número de pessoas expostas a doenças, como a dengue, aumentando a probabilidade de surtos ou epidemias. Neste trabalho, o recorte temporal escolhido, de 2012 a 2017, abrange os dois anos em que mais casos de dengue autóctone ocorreram em Porto Alegre (2013 e 2016). Para o período, analisaram-se variabilidades a partir dos seguintes dados: Índice Niño 3.4 (NOAA); médias e totais mensais de elementos meteorológicos e as normais climatológicas 1981-2010 de Porto Alegre (WMO 83967- INMET); casos confirmados de dengue por semana epidemiológica e ano (SINAN-RS); dias com presença de jatos de baixos níveis (JBN) sobre Porto Alegre (Projeto Rios Voadores e INPE/CPTEC). A partir da organização destes dados, foi constatada uma correspondência entre o El Niño muito forte ocorrido em 2016, a presença quase constante dos JBN sobre Porto Alegre, precipitação bem superior à normal e o maior número de casos de dengue autóctone já registrado até então. Discute-se também as diferenças e semelhanças deste ano com o de 2013, que foi o segundo ano em registros de dengue autóctone.  Variability of Climate and Dengue Fever Cases in Porto Alegre/RS from 2012 to 2017 A B S T R A C TThe El Niño / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle causes ripples through the global climate, changing air currents and rainfall patterns, The effect on the climate of southern Brazil was evidenced by several authors. The shifts in Niño years can increase the number of people exposed to a disease, such as dengue, increasing the likelihood of an outbreak. In this work, we analyzed a period of time that covers the two years in which more cases of autochthonous dengue fever occurred in Porto Alegre (2013 and 2016). For this period, variability was analyzed from the following data: Niño 3.4 (NOAA), monthly mean and cumulative meteorological data and climatological normal 1981/2010 of Porto Alegre (WMO 83967- INMET); confirmed cases of dengue fever per epidemiological week and per year (SINAN-RS); days with presence of low level jets (JBN) over Porto Alegre (INPE/CPTEC). The organization of these data showed correspondence between the very strong El Niño occurred in 2016, the almost constant presence of the JBN over Porto Alegre, the most intense and frequent precipitation, and the highest number of autochthonous dengue cases ever recorded. We also discuss the differences and similarities of this year with that of 2013, which was the second year in autochthonous dengue fever records.Keywords: El Niño, Low Lever Jet, precipitation, temperature, wind, dengue fever.


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