The Influence of ENSO on the Generation of Decadal Variability in the North Pacific*

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soon-Il An ◽  
Jong-Seong Kug ◽  
Axel Timmermann ◽  
In-Sik Kang ◽  
Oliver Timm
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Diagnostic Study ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
The North ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract This diagnostic study explores the generation of decadal variability in the North Pacific resulting from the asymmetry of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon and the nonlinearity of the atmospheric tropical–extratropical teleconnection. Nonlinear regression analysis of the North Pacific sea surface temperatures and atmospheric fields with respect to the ENSO index reveals that the main teleconnection centers shift between El Niño and La Niña years. This asymmetry in the ENSO response, together with the skewed probabilistic distribution of ENSO itself, may contribute to the generation of the long-term decadal variability of sea surface temperatures in the extratropical North Pacific. It is argued that this hypothesis may explain the significant variance of the observed Pacific decadal oscillation in the extratropics.

scholarly journals Global Modes of Sea Surface Temperature Variability in Relation to Regional Climate Indices

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (16) ◽  
pp. 4314-4331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Messié ◽  
Francisco Chavez
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
El Niño Modoki ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Global Modes ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract A century-long EOF analysis of global sea surface temperature (SST) was carried out and the first six modes, independent by construction, were found to be associated with well-known regional climate phenomena: the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), El Niño Modoki, and the Atlantic El Niño. Four of the six global modes are dominated by Pacific changes, the other two (M2 and M6) being associated with the AMO and Atlantic El Niño, respectively. The principal component time series of the ENSO (M1) and North Pacific (M3) modes are coherent at time scales >10 yr, and their interaction results in the traditional PDO pattern and the dominant mode of Pacific multidecadal variability. The M3 and PDO time series are well correlated, but the EOFs have different spatial patterns. The fourth mode (M4) has been strengthening since the 1950s and is related to the NPGO but also to El Niño Modoki, especially at the decadal scale. The fifth global mode (M5) is also spatially and temporally correlated to El Niño Modoki. The Pacific SST modes are further related to atmospheric forcing and the circulation of the North Pacific subpolar and subtropical gyres.

North Australian Sea Surface Temperatures and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation in the CMIP5 Models

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (18) ◽  
pp. 6375-6382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Catto ◽  
Neville Nicholls ◽  
Christian Jakob
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
The North ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Surface Temperatures

Abstract Aspects of the climate of Australia are linked to interannual variability of the sea surface temperatures (SSTs) to the north of the country. SST anomalies in this region have been shown to exhibit strong, seasonally varying links to ENSO and tropical Pacific SSTs. Previously, the models participating in phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) have been evaluated and found to vary in their abilities to represent both the seasonal cycle of correlations between the Niño-3.4 and north Australian SSTs and the evolution of SSTs during composite El Niño and La Niña events. In this study, the new suite of models participating in the CMIP5 is evaluated using the same method. In the multimodel mean, the representation of the links is slightly improved, but generally the models do not capture the strength of the negative correlations during the second half of the year. The models also still struggle to capture the SST evolution in the north Australian region during El Niño and La Niña events.

scholarly journals On the Observed Relationships between Wintertime Variability in Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension Sea Surface Temperatures and the Atmospheric Circulation over the North Pacific

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 4669-4681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha M. Wills ◽  
David W. J. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Turbulent Heat ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
The North ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
The North Pacific ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Observational analyses reveal that wintertime variations in sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE) region of the North Pacific are associated with two distinct and robust patterns of atmospheric variability: 1) a pattern that peaks in amplitude approximately 2–3 weeks prior to large KOE SST anomalies and is consistent with atmospheric forcing of the SST field and 2) a very different pattern that lags SST anomalies in the KOE region by approximately a month. The latter pattern is dominated by low sea level pressure anomalies and turbulent heat fluxes directed into the atmosphere over warm SST anomalies and is interpreted as the transient atmospheric response to SST anomalies over the KOE region. The results contribute to a growing body of evidence that suggests variations in SSTs in the midlatitude oceans are capable of significantly influencing the large-scale atmospheric circulation, especially near western boundary currents.

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