scholarly journals Positive relationship between seasonal Indo-Pacific Ocean wave power and SST

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukhwinder Kaur ◽  
Prashant Kumar ◽  
Evan Weller ◽  
Ian R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Wave Power ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Positive Indian Ocean Dipole ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Sst Anomalies

AbstractThe influence of increasing sea surface temperatures (SSTs), in response to greenhouse warming, on wave power (WP) remains uncertain. Here, seasonal relationships between SST anomalies and mean and extreme WP over the Indo-Pacific Ocean are examined. Overall, seasonal WP has significantly increased over much of the Pacific, Indian, and Southern Ocean by 1.21–3.10 kW/m dec−1 over 1979–2019. Contributions from wave characteristics, namely significant wave height (SWH) and peak wave period (PWP), to changes in WP show that SWH contributes most in extra-tropical regions, and PWP most in tropical regions. Further, seasonal relationships between SST anomalies and WP indicate that increases in WP are also seen during strong El Niño years in December–February, and in-phase combinations of El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events during June–August and September–November. Results highlight both long-term increasing SSTs and climate variability roles for inducing large-scale seasonal WP changes throughout the Indo-Pacific.

scholarly journals Differences in Atmospheric Circulation between the Development of Weak and Strong Warm Events in the Southern Oscillation

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2191-2209 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Stephens ◽  
Michael J. Meuleners ◽  
Harry van Loon ◽  
Malcolm H. Lamond ◽  
Nicola P. Telcik
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Abstract In this study temporal and spatial aspects of El Niño (warm event) development are explored by comparing composite sequences of sea level pressure (SLP), surface wind, and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies leading into strong and weak events. El Niño strength is found to be related to the magnitude and spatial extent of large-scale SLP anomalies that move in a low-frequency mode. In association with this, it is also intricately linked to the amplitude and wavelength of the Rossby waves in the southern midlatitudes. The primary signature of the Southern Oscillation is a more pronounced standing wave of pressure anomalies between southeastern Australia and the central South Pacific leading into stronger events. A strong reversal in the strength of the annual cycle between these two regions causes a stronger (weaker) SLP gradient that drives southwesterly (northwesterly) wind stress forcing toward (away from) the western equatorial Pacific in austral winter–spring of year 0 (−1). Thus, pressure variations in the southwest Pacific preconditions the equatorial environment to a particular phase of ENSO and establishes the setting for greater tropical–extratropical interactions to occur in stronger events. Maximum warming in the Niño-3 region occurs between April and July (0) when a strong South Pacific trough most influences the trade winds at both ends of the Pacific. Cool SST anomalies that form to the east of high pressure anomalies over Indo–Australia assist an eastward propogation of high pressure into the Pacific midlatitudes and the demise of El Niño. Strong events have a more pronounced eastward propogation of SST and SLP anomalies and a much more noticeable enhancement of winter hemisphere Rossby waves from May–July (−1) to November–January (+1). Weak events require an enhanced South Pacific trough to develop but have much less support from the North Pacific. They also appear more variable in their development and more difficult to predict with lead time.

scholarly journals Role of the Indo-Pacific Interbasin Coupling in Predicting Asymmetric ENSO Transition and Duration

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 3321-3335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masamichi Ohba ◽  
Masahiro Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
La Niña ◽  
La Nina ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Enso Asymmetry ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Warm and cold phases of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exhibit a significant asymmetry in their transition/duration such that El Niño tends to shift rapidly to La Niña after the mature phase, whereas La Niña tends to persist for up to 2 yr. The possible role of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Indian Ocean (IO) in this ENSO asymmetry is investigated using a coupled general circulation model (CGCM). Decoupled-IO experiments are conducted to assess asymmetric IO feedbacks to the ongoing ENSO evolution in the Pacific. Identical-twin forecast experiments show that a coupling of the IO extends the skillful prediction of the ENSO warm phase by about one year, which was about 8 months in the absence of the IO coupling, in which a significant drop of the prediction skill around the boreal spring (known as the spring prediction barrier) is found. The effect of IO coupling on the predictability of the Pacific SST is significantly weaker in the decay phase of La Niña. Warm IO SST anomalies associated with El Niño enhance surface easterlies over the equatorial western Pacific and hence facilitate the El Niño decay. However, this mechanism cannot be applied to cold IO SST anomalies during La Niña. The result of these CGCM experiments estimates that approximately one-half of the ENSO asymmetry arises from the phase-dependent nature of the Indo-Pacific interbasin coupling.

scholarly journals ENSO’s Impact on the Gap Wind Regions of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean*

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 3549-3565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Alexander ◽  
Hyodae Seo ◽  
Shang Ping Xie ◽  
James D. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Tropical Pacific Ocean ◽  
Variable Surface ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Abstract The recently released NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) is used to examine the response to ENSO in the northeast tropical Pacific Ocean (NETP) during 1979–2009. The normally cool Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) associated with wind jets through the gaps in the Central American mountains at Tehuantepec, Papagayo, and Panama are substantially warmer (colder) than the surrounding ocean during El Niño (La Niña) events. Ocean dynamics generate the ENSO-related SST anomalies in the gap wind regions as the surface fluxes damp the SSTs anomalies, while the Ekman heat transport is generally in quadrature with the anomalies. The ENSO-driven warming is associated with large-scale deepening of the thermocline; with the cold thermocline water at greater depths during El Niño in the NETP, it is less likely to be vertically mixed to the surface, particularly in the gap wind regions where the thermocline is normally very close to the surface. The thermocline deepening is enhanced to the south of the Costa Rica Dome in the Papagayo region, which contributes to the local ENSO-driven SST anomalies. The NETP thermocline changes are due to coastal Kelvin waves that initiate westward-propagating Rossby waves, and possibly ocean eddies, rather than by local Ekman pumping. These findings were confirmed with regional ocean model experiments: only integrations that included interannually varying ocean boundary conditions were able to simulate the thermocline deepening and localized warming in the NETP during El Niño events; the simulation with variable surface fluxes, but boundary conditions that repeated the seasonal cycle, did not.

El Nino Chaos: Overlapping of Resonances Between the Seasonal Cycle and the Pacific Ocean-Atmosphere Oscillator

Science ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 264 (5155) ◽  
pp. 72-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tziperman ◽  
L. Stone ◽  
M. A. Cane ◽  
H. Jarosh
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
El Nino ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Ocean Atmosphere ◽  
The Pacific Ocean

scholarly journals Toward Identifying Subseasonal Forecasts of Opportunity Using North American Weather Regimes

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 1861-1875
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Robertson ◽  
Nicolas Vigaud ◽  
Jing Yuan ◽  
Michael K. Tippett
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Geopotential Height ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Seasonal Forecasts ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Graphical Tool

Abstract Large-scale atmospheric circulation regime structures are used to diagnose subseasonal forecasts of wintertime geopotential height fields over the North American sector, from the NCEP CFSv2 model. Four large-scale daily circulation regimes derived from reanalysis 500-hPa geopotential height data using K-means clustering are used as a low-dimensional basis for diagnosing the model’s forecasts up to 45 days ahead. On average, hindcast skill in regime space is found to be limited to 10–15 days ahead, in terms of anomaly correlation of 5-day averages of regime counts, over the 1999–2010 period. However, skill up to 30 days ahead is identified in individual winters, and intraseasonal episodes of high skill are identified using a forecast-evolution graphical tool. A striking vacillation between the West Coast and Pacific ridge patterns during December–January 2008/09 is shown to be predicted 20–25 days in advance, illustrating the possibility to identify “forecasts of opportunity” when subseasonal forecast skill is much higher than the average. The forecast-evolution tool also provides insight into the poor seasonal forecasts of California precipitation by operational centers during the 2015/16 El Niño winter. The Pacific trough regime is shown to be greatly overpredicted beyond 1–2 weeks in advance during the 2015/16 winter, with weather-scale features dominating the forecast evolution at shorter lead times. A similar though less extreme situation took place during the weaker El Niño of 2009/10, with the Pacific trough overforecast at S2S lead times.

scholarly journals Meridional Extent and Interannual Variability of the Pacific Ocean Tropical–Subtropical Warm Water Exchange

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Meinen
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Height Anomaly ◽  
The South ◽  
El Niño Event ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract Altimetric observations of sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) from the TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS satellites, hydrography, and the ECMWF and Florida State University wind products are used to track warm water (≥20°C) as it is exchanged between the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the higher latitudes during 1993–2003. The large El Niño event of 1997–98 resulted in a significant discharge of warm water toward the higher latitudes within the interior of the Pacific Ocean. The exchange of anomalous warm water volume with the Northern Hemisphere appears to be blocked under the intertropical convergence zone, consistent with most current ideas on the time-mean tropical–subtropical exchange. Little of the warm water discharged northward across 5° and 8°N during the 1997–98 El Niño event could be traced as far as 10°N. To the south, however, these anomalous volumes of warm water were visible at least as far as 20°S, primarily in the longitudes around 130°–160°W. In both hemispheres most of the warm water appeared to flow westward before returning to the Tropics during the recharge phase of the El Niño–La Niña cycle. The buildup of warm water in the Tropics before the 1997–98 El Niño is shown to be fed primarily by warm water drawn from the region in the western Pacific within 5°S–15°N. The exchange cycle between the equatorial band and the higher latitudes north of the equator leads the cycle in the south by 6–8 months. These results are found in all three datasets used herein, hydrography, altimetric observations of SSHA, and Sverdrup transports calculated from multiple wind products, which demonstrates the robustness of the results.

El Nino Episode Brews in the Pacific Ocean

Science News ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
R. Monastersky
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean
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