scholarly journals Effect of the air–sea coupled system change on the ENSO evolution from boreal spring

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang-Hui Fang ◽  
Fei Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Regime Shift ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Coupled System ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Enso Prediction ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
Mature Phase ◽  
Spring Predictability Barrier ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractRealistic simulation and accurate prediction of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is still a challenge. One fundamental obstacle is the so-called spring predictability barrier (SPB), which features a low predictive skill of the ENSO with prediction across boreal spring. Our observational analysis shows that the leading empirical orthogonal function mode of the seasonal Niño3.4 index evolution (i.e., from May to the following April) explains nearly 90% of its total variance, and the principle component is almost identical to the Niño3.4 index in the mature phase. This means a good ENSO prediction for a year ranging May-next April can be achieved if the Niño3.4 index in the mature phase is accurately obtained in advance. In this work, by extracting physically oriented variables in the spring, a linear regression approach that can reproduce the mature ENSO phases in observation is firstly proposed. Further investigation indicates that the specific equation, however, is significantly modulated by an interdecadal regime shift in the air–sea coupled system in the tropical Pacific. During 1980–1999, ocean adjustment and vertical processes were dominant, and the recharge oscillator theory was effective to capture the ENSO evolutions. While, during 2000–2018, zonal advection and thermodynamics became important, and successful prediction essentially relies on the wind stress information and their controlled processes, both zonally and meridionally. These results imply that accounting for the interdecadal regime shift of the tropical Pacific coupled system and the dominant processes in spring in modulating the ENSO evolution could reduce the impact of SPB and improve ENSO prediction.

scholarly journals Enhanced ENSO Prediction via Augmentation of Multimodel Ensembles with Initial Thermocline Perturbations

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 2281-2293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence J. O’Kane ◽  
Dougal T. Squire ◽  
Paul A. Sandery ◽  
Vassili Kitsios ◽  
Richard J. Matear ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Sign Test ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Multimodel Ensemble ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Enso Prediction ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
The North ◽  
Forecast Lead Time

AbstractRecent studies have shown that regardless of model configuration, skill in predicting El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), in terms of target month and forecast lead time, remains largely dependent on the temporal characteristics of the boreal spring predictability barrier. Continuing the 2019 study by O’Kane et al., we compare multiyear ensemble ENSO forecasts from the Climate Analysis Forecast Ensemble (CAFE) to ensemble forecasts from state-of-the-art dynamical coupled models in the North American Multimodel Ensemble (NMME) project. The CAFE initial perturbations are targeted such that they are specific to tropical Pacific thermocline variability. With respect to individual NMME forecasts and multimodel ensemble averages, the CAFE forecasts reveal improvements in skill when predicting ENSO at lead times greater than 6 months, in particular when predictability is most strongly limited by the boreal spring barrier. Initial forecast perturbations generated exclusively as disturbances in the equatorial Pacific thermocline are shown to improve the forecast skill at longer lead times in terms of anomaly correlation and the random walk sign test. Our results indicate that augmenting current initialization methods with initial perturbations targeting instabilities specific to the tropical Pacific thermocline may improve long-range ENSO prediction.

scholarly journals Impact of Equatorial Atlantic Variability on ENSO Predictive Skill

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleftheria Exarchou ◽  
Pablo Ortega ◽  
Maria Belén Rodrıguez de Fonseca ◽  
Teresa Losada Doval ◽  
Irene Polo Sanchez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Models ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Predictive Skill ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

<p>El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a key mode of climate variability with worldwide climate impacts. Recent studies have highlighted the impact of other tropical oceans on its variability. In particular, observations have demonstrated that summer Atlantic Niños (Niñas) favor the development of Pacific Niñas (Niños) the following winter, but it is unclear how well climate models capture this teleconnection and its role in defining the seasonal predictive skill of ENSO. Here we use an ensemble of seasonal forecast systems to demonstrate that a better representation of equatorial Atlantic variability in summer and its lagged teleconnection mechanism with the Pacific relates to enhanced predictive capacity of autumn/winter ENSO. An additional sensitivity study further shows that correcting SST variability in equatorial Atlantic improves different aspects of forecast skill in the Tropical Pacific, boosting ENSO skill. This study thus emphasizes that new efforts to improve the representation of equatorial Atlantic variability, a region with long standing systematic model biases, can foster predictive skill in the region, the Tropical Pacific and beyond, through the global impacts of ENSO.</p>

scholarly journals Impact of equatorial Atlantic variability on ENSO predictive skill

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleftheria Exarchou ◽  
Pablo Ortega ◽  
Belén Rodríguez-Fonseca ◽  
Teresa Losada ◽  
Irene Polo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Models ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Predictive Skill ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractEl Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a key mode of climate variability with worldwide climate impacts. Recent studies have highlighted the impact of other tropical oceans on its variability. In particular, observations have demonstrated that summer Atlantic Niños (Niñas) favor the development of Pacific Niñas (Niños) the following winter, but it is unclear how well climate models capture this teleconnection and its role in defining the seasonal predictive skill of ENSO. Here we use an ensemble of seasonal forecast systems to demonstrate that a better representation of equatorial Atlantic variability in summer and its lagged teleconnection mechanism with the Pacific relates to enhanced predictive capacity of autumn/winter ENSO. An additional sensitivity study further shows that correcting SST variability in equatorial Atlantic improves different aspects of forecast skill in the Tropical Pacific, boosting ENSO skill. This study thus emphasizes that new efforts to improve the representation of equatorial Atlantic variability, a region with long standing systematic model biases, can foster predictive skill in the region, the Tropical Pacific and beyond, through the global impacts of ENSO.

Diverse impacts of Indian Ocean Dipole on El Niño-Southern Oscillation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Weiqing Han ◽  
Gerald A. Meehl ◽  
Aixue Hu ◽  
Nan Rosenbloom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Indian Ocean Dipole ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
El Niño Southern Oscillation ◽  
El Nino Southern Oscillation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractUnderstanding the impact of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is important for climate prediction. By analyzing observational data and performing Indian and Pacific Ocean pacemaker experiments using a state-of-the-art climate model, we find that a positive IOD (pIOD) can favor both cold and warm sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the tropical Pacific, in contrast to the previously identified pIOD-El Niño connection. The diverse impacts of the pIOD on ENSO are related to SSTA in the Seychelles-Chagos thermocline ridge (SCTR; 60°E-85°E and 7°S-15°S) as part of the warm pole of the pIOD. Specifically, a pIOD with SCTR warming can cause warm SSTA in the southeast Indian Ocean, which induces La Niña-like conditions in the tropical Pacific through interbasin interaction processes associated with a recently identified climate phenomenon dubbed the “Warm Pool Dipole”. This study identifies a new pIOD-ENSO relationship and examines the associated mechanisms.

Successive Modulation of ENSO to the Future Greenhouse Warming

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soon-Il An ◽  
Jong-Seong Kug ◽  
Yoo-Geun Ham ◽  
In-Sik Kang
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Greenhouse Warming ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Subsurface Temperature ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract The multidecadal modulation of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) due to greenhouse warming has been analyzed herein by means of diagnostics of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) and the eigenanalysis of a simplified version of an intermediate ENSO model. The response of the global-mean troposphere temperature to increasing greenhouse gases is more likely linear, while the amplitude and period of ENSO fluctuates in a multidecadal time scale. The climate system model outputs suggest that the multidecadal modulation of ENSO is related to the delayed response of the subsurface temperature in the tropical Pacific compared to the response time of the sea surface temperature (SST), which would lead a modulation of the vertical temperature gradient. Furthermore, an eigenanalysis considering only two parameters, the changes in the zonal contrast of the mean background SST and the changes in the vertical contrast between the mean surface and subsurface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, exhibits a good agreement with the CGCM outputs in terms of the multidecadal modulations of the ENSO amplitude and period. In particular, the change in the vertical contrast, that is, change in difference between the subsurface temperature and SST, turns out to be more influential on the ENSO modulation than changes in the mean SST itself.

scholarly journals A Link between the Hiatus in Global Warming and North American Drought

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 3834-3845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Delworth ◽  
Fanrong Zeng ◽  
Anthony Rosati ◽  
Gabriel A. Vecchi ◽  
Andrew T. Wittenberg
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
North America ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
North American ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Global Warming Hiatus ◽  
Warming Hiatus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract Portions of western North America have experienced prolonged drought over the last decade. This drought has occurred at the same time as the global warming hiatus—a decadal period with little increase in global mean surface temperature. Climate models and observational analyses are used to clarify the dual role of recent tropical Pacific changes in driving both the global warming hiatus and North American drought. When observed tropical Pacific wind stress anomalies are inserted into coupled models, the simulations produce persistent negative sea surface temperature anomalies in the eastern tropical Pacific, a hiatus in global warming, and drought over North America driven by SST-induced atmospheric circulation anomalies. In the simulations herein the tropical wind anomalies account for 92% of the simulated North American drought during the recent decade, with 8% from anthropogenic radiative forcing changes. This suggests that anthropogenic radiative forcing is not the dominant driver of the current drought, unless the wind changes themselves are driven by anthropogenic radiative forcing. The anomalous tropical winds could also originate from coupled interactions in the tropical Pacific or from forcing outside the tropical Pacific. The model experiments suggest that if the tropical winds were to return to climatological conditions, then the recent tendency toward North American drought would diminish. Alternatively, if the anomalous tropical winds were to persist, then the impact on North American drought would continue; however, the impact of the enhanced Pacific easterlies on global temperature diminishes after a decade or two due to a surface reemergence of warmer water that was initially subducted into the ocean interior.

scholarly journals Impact of Resolution on the Tropical Pacific Circulation in a Matrix of Coupled Models

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 2541-2556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm J. Roberts ◽  
A. Clayton ◽  
M.-E. Demory ◽  
J. Donners ◽  
P. L. Vidale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coupled Model ◽  
Walker Circulation ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Model Stability ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mean State ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract Results are presented from a matrix of coupled model integrations, using atmosphere resolutions of 135 and 90 km, and ocean resolutions of 1° and 1/3°, to study the impact of resolution on simulated climate. The mean state of the tropical Pacific is found to be improved in the models with a higher ocean resolution. Such an improved mean state arises from the development of tropical instability waves, which are poorly resolved at low resolution; these waves reduce the equatorial cold tongue bias. The improved ocean state also allows for a better simulation of the atmospheric Walker circulation. Several sensitivity studies have been performed to further understand the processes involved in the different component models. Significantly decreasing the horizontal momentum dissipation in the coupled model with the lower-resolution ocean has benefits for the mean tropical Pacific climate, but decreases model stability. Increasing the momentum dissipation in the coupled model with the higher-resolution ocean degrades the simulation toward that of the lower-resolution ocean. These results suggest that enhanced ocean model resolution can have important benefits for the climatology of both the atmosphere and ocean components of the coupled model, and that some of these benefits may be achievable at lower ocean resolution, if the model formulation allows.

scholarly journals Skillful prediction of tropical Pacific fisheries provided by Atlantic Niños

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iñigo Gómara ◽  
Belén Rodríguez-Fonseca ◽  
Elsa Mohino ◽  
Teresa Losada ◽  
Irene Polo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Ecosystem Model ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Marine Food Web ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Model ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractTropical Pacific upwelling-dependent ecosystems are the most productive and variable worldwide, mainly due to the influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO can be forecasted seasons ahead thanks to assorted climate precursors (local-Pacific processes, pantropical interactions). However, owing to observational data scarcity and bias-related issues in earth system models, little is known about the importance of these precursors for marine ecosystem prediction. With recently released reanalysis-nudged global marine ecosystem simulations, these constraints can be sidestepped, allowing full examination of tropical Pacific ecosystem predictability. By complementing historical fishing records with marine ecosystem model data, we show herein that equatorial Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) constitute a superlative predictability source for tropical Pacific marine yields, which can be forecasted over large-scale areas up to 2 years in advance. A detailed physical-biological mechanism is proposed whereby Atlantic SSTs modulate upwelling of nutrient-rich waters in the tropical Pacific, leading to a bottom-up propagation of the climate-related signal across the marine food web. Our results represent historical and near-future climate conditions and provide a useful springboard for implementing a marine ecosystem prediction system in the tropical Pacific.

scholarly journals Seasonal Drought in the Greater Horn of Africa and Its Recent Increase during the March–May Long Rains

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (21) ◽  
pp. 7953-7975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradfield Lyon
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Climate Model Simulations ◽  
Greater Horn Of Africa ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract This paper provides a review of atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperature (SST) conditions that are associated with meteorological drought on the seasonal time scale in the Greater Horn of Africa (the region 10°S–15°N, 30°–52°E). New findings regarding a post-1998 increase in drought frequency during the March–May (MAM) “long rains” are also reported. The period 1950–2010 is emphasized, although rainfall and SST data from 1901–2010 are used to place the recent long rains decline in a multidecadal context. For the latter case, climate model simulations and isolated basin SST experiments are also utilized. Climatologically, rainfall exhibits a unimodal June–August (JJA) maximum in west-central Ethiopia with a generally bimodal [MAM and October–December (OND) maxima] distribution in locations to the south and east. Emphasis will be on these three seasons. SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans show the strongest association with drought during OND in locations having a bimodal annual cycle, with weaker associations during MAM. The influence of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon critically depends on its ability to affect SSTs outside the Pacific. Salient features of the anomalous atmospheric circulation during drought events in different locations and seasons are discussed. The post-1998 decline in the long rains is found to be driven strongly (although not necessarily exclusively) by natural multidecadal variability in the tropical Pacific rather than anthropogenic climate change. This conclusion is supported by observational analyses and climate model experiments, which are presented.

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