El Niño as a predictor of round sardinella distribution along the northwest African coast

Author(s):  
Jorge López-Parages ◽  
Pierre-Amaël Auger ◽  
Belén Rodríguez-Fonseca ◽  
Noel Keenlyside ◽  
Carlo Gaetan ◽  
...  

<p>The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) produces global marine environment conditions that can cause changes in abundance and distribution of distant fish populations worldwide. Understanding mechanisms acting locally on fish population dynamics is crucial to develop forecast skill useful for fisheries management. The present work addresses the role played by ENSO on the round sardinella population biomass and distribution in the central-southern portion of the Canary Current Upwelling System (CCUS). A combined physical-biogeochemical framework is used to understand the climate influence on the hydrodynamical conditions in the study area. Then, an evolutionary individual-based model is used to simulate the round sardinella spatio-temporal biomass variability. According to model experiments, anomalous oceanographic conditions forced by El Niño along the African coast cause anomalies in the latitudinal migration pattern of the species. A robust anomalous increase and decrease of the simulated round sardinella biomass is identified in winter off the Cape Blanc and the Saharan coast region, respectively, in response to El Niño variations. The resultant anomalous pattern is an alteration of the normal migration between the Saharan and the Mauritanian waters. It is primarily explained by the mod- ulating role that El Niño exerts on the currents off Cape Blanc, modifying therefore the normal migration of round sardinella in the search of acceptable temperature conditions. This climate signature can be potentially predicted up to six months in advance based on El Niño conditions in the Pacific.</p>

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 626-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Anthony Koslow ◽  
Pete Davison ◽  
Erica Ferrer ◽  
S Patricia A Jiménez Rosenberg ◽  
Gerardo Aceves-Medina ◽  
...  

Abstract Declining oxygen concentrations in the deep ocean, particularly in areas with pronounced oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), are a growing global concern related to global climate change. Its potential impacts on marine life remain poorly understood. A previous study suggested that the abundance of a diverse suite of mesopelagic fishes off southern California was closely linked to trends in midwater oxygen concentration. This study expands the spatial and temporal scale of that analysis to examine how mesopelagic fishes are responding to declining oxygen levels in the California Current (CC) off central, southern, and Baja California. Several warm-water mesopelagic species, apparently adapted to the shallower, more intense OMZ off Baja California, are shown to be increasing despite declining midwater oxygen concentrations and becoming increasingly dominant, initially off Baja California and subsequently in the CC region to the north. Their increased abundance is associated with warming near-surface ocean temperature, the warm phase of the Pacific Decadal oscillation and Multivariate El Niño-Southern Oscillation Index, and the increased flux of Pacific Equatorial Water into the southern CC.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 3321-3335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masamichi Ohba ◽  
Masahiro Watanabe

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.


Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Edgard Gonzales ◽  
Eusebio Ingol

In 2017, extreme rainfall events occurred in the northern portion of Peru, causing nearly 100,000 victims, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (COEN). This climatic event was attributed to the occurrence of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Therefore, the main objective of this study was to determine and differentiate between the occurrence of canonical ENSO, with a new type of ENSO called “El Niño Costero” (Coastal El Niño). The polynomial equation method was used to analyze the data from the different types of existing ocean indices to determine the occurrence of ENSO. It was observed that the anomalies of sea surface temperature (SST) 2.5 °C (January 2016) generated the “Modoki El Niño” and that the anomaly of SST −0.3 °C (January 2017) generated the “Modoki La Niña”; this sequential generation generated El Niño Costero. This new knowledge about the sui generis origin of El Niño Costero, based on the observations of this analysis, will allow us to identify and obtain important information regarding the occurrence of this event. A new oceanic index called the Pacific Regional Equatorial Index (PREI) was proposed to follow the periodic evolution and forecast with greater precision a new catastrophic event related to the occurrence of El Niño Costero and to implement prevention programs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (12) ◽  
pp. 4322-4336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly M. Wood ◽  
Elizabeth A. Ritchie

Abstract A dataset of 167 eastern North Pacific tropical cyclones (TCs) is investigated for potential impacts in the southwestern United States over the period 1989–2009 and evaluated in the context of a 30-yr climatology. The statistically significant patterns from empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis demonstrate the prevalence of a midlatitude trough pattern when TC-related rainfall occurs in the southwestern United States. Conversely, the presence of a strong subtropical ridge tends to prevent such events from occurring and limits TC-related rainfall to Mexico. These statistically significant patterns correspond well with previous work. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon is shown to have some effect on eastern North Pacific TC impacts on the southwestern United States, as shifts in the general circulation can subsequently influence which regions receive rainfall from TCs or their remnants. The Pacific decadal oscillation may have a greater influence during the period of study as evidenced by EOF analysis of sea surface temperature anomalies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 3105-3124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilefac Elvis Asong ◽  
Howard Simon Wheater ◽  
Barrie Bonsal ◽  
Saman Razavi ◽  
Sopan Kurkute

Abstract. Drought is a recurring extreme climate event and among the most costly natural disasters in the world. This is particularly true over Canada, where drought is both a frequent and damaging phenomenon with impacts on regional water resources, agriculture, industry, aquatic ecosystems, and health. However, nationwide drought assessments are currently lacking and impacted by limited ground-based observations. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of historical droughts over the whole of Canada, including the role of large-scale teleconnections. Drought events are characterized by the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) over various temporal scales (1, 3, 6, and 12 consecutive months, 6 months from April to September, and 12 months from October to September) applied to different gridded monthly data sets for the period 1950–2013. The Mann–Kendall test, rotated empirical orthogonal function, continuous wavelet transform, and wavelet coherence analyses are used, respectively, to investigate the trend, spatio-temporal patterns, periodicity, and teleconnectivity of drought events. Results indicate that southern (northern) parts of the country experienced significant trends towards drier (wetter) conditions although substantial variability exists. Two spatially well-defined regions with different temporal evolution of droughts were identified – the Canadian Prairies and northern central Canada. The analyses also revealed the presence of a dominant periodicity of between 8 and 32 months in the Prairie region and between 8 and 40 months in the northern central region. These cycles of low-frequency variability are found to be associated principally with the Pacific–North American (PNA) and Multivariate El Niño/Southern Oscillation Index (MEI) relative to other considered large-scale climate indices. This study is the first of its kind to identify dominant periodicities in drought variability over the whole of Canada in terms of when the drought events occur, their duration, and how often they occur.


2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (10) ◽  
pp. 3097-3112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina S. Virts ◽  
John M. Wallace

Abstract Cloud fields based on the first three years of data from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission are used to investigate the relationship between cirrus within the tropical tropopause transition layer (TTL) and the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), the annual cycle, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The TTL cirrus signature observed in association with the MJO resembles convectively induced, mixed Kelvin–Rossby wave solutions above the Pacific warm pool region. This signature is centered to the east of the peak convection and propagates eastward more rapidly than the convection; it exhibits a pronounced eastward tilt with height, suggestive of downward phase propagation and upward energy dispersion. A cirrus maximum is observed over equatorial Africa and South America when the enhanced MJO-related convection enters the western Pacific. Tropical-mean TTL cirrus is modulated by the MJO, with more than twice as much TTL cirrus fractional coverage equatorward of 10° latitude when the enhanced convection enters the Pacific than a few weeks earlier, when the convection is over the Indian Ocean. The annual cycle in cirrus clouds around the base of the TTL is equatorially asymmetric, with more cirrus observed in the summer hemisphere. Higher in the TTL, the annual cycle in cirrus clouds is more equatorially symmetric, with a maximum in the boreal winter throughout most of the tropics. The ENSO signature in TTL cirrus is marked by a zonal shift of the peak cloudiness toward the central Pacific during El Niño and toward the Maritime Continent during La Niña.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 2237-2248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiong Wu ◽  
Xiaochun Wang ◽  
Li Tao

AbstractIn this study, we analyzed the impacts of Western North Pacific Subtropical High (WNPSH) on tropical cyclone (TC) activity on both interannual and interdecadal timescales. Based on a clustering analysis method, we grouped TCs in the Western North Pacific into three clusters according to their track patterns. We mainly focus on Cluster 1 (C1) TCs in this work, which is characterized by forming north of 15° N and moving northward. On interannual timescale, the number of C1 TCs is influenced by the intensity variability of the WNPSH, which is represented by the first Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) of 850 hPa geopotential height of the region. The WNPSH itself is modulated by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation at its peak phase in the previous winter, as well as Indian and Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperature anomalies in following seasons. The second EOF mode shows the interdecadal change of WNPSH intensity. The interdecadal variability of WNPSH intensity related to the Pacific climate regime shift could cause anomalies of the steering flow, and lead to the longitudinal shift of C1 TC track. Negative phases of interdecadal Pacific oscillation are associated with easterly anomaly of steering flow, westward shift of C1 TC track, and large TC impact on the East Asia coastal area.


2002 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Knapp ◽  
Henri D. Grissino-Mayer ◽  
Peter T. Soulé

AbstractTree-ring records from western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis var. occidentalis Hook.) growing throughout the interior Pacific Northwest identify extreme climatic pointer years (CPYs) (i.e., severe single-year droughts) from 1500–1998. Widespread and extreme CPYs were concentrated in the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries and did not occur again until the early 20th century. The 217-yr absence of extreme CPYs may have occurred during an extended period of low variance in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We mapped climatic boundaries for the interior Pacific Northwest based on the location of sites with similar precipitation variability indices. Three regions, the Northwest (based on chronologies from nine sites), the Southwest (four sites), and the East (five sites) were identified. Our results suggest that western juniper radial growth indices have substantial interannual variability within the northwestern range of the species (central Oregon), particularly when compared with western juniper growing in its eastern range (eastern Oregon, southeastern Idaho, and northern Nevada) and southwestern range (southern Oregon and northeast California). We suspect that the substantial differences in the variability of western juniper radial growth indices are linked to the influence of ENSO events on winter/spring precipitation amounts.


MAUSAM ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-308
Author(s):  
D. R. KOTHAWALE ◽  
K. RUPA KUMAR

In the context of the ever increasing interest in the regional aspects of global warming, understanding the spatio-temporal variations of tropospheric temperature over India is of great importance. The present study, based on the data from 19 well distributed radiosonde stations for the period 1971-2000, examines the seasonal and annual mean temperature variations at the surface and five selected upper levels, viz., 850, 700, 500, 200 and 150 hPa. An attempt has also been made to bring out the association between tropospheric temperature variations over India and the summer monsoon variability, including the role of its major teleconnection parameter, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).   Seasonal and annual mean all-India temperature series are analyzed for surface and five tropospheric levels.  The mean annual cycles of temperature at different tropospheric levels indicate that the pre-monsoon season is slightly warmer than the monsoon season at the surface, 850 hPa and 150 hPa levels, while it is relatively cooler at all intermediate levels.  The mean annual temperature shows a warming of 0.18° C and 0.3° C per 10 years at the surface and 850 hPa, respectively.   Tropospheric temperature anomaly composites of excess (deficient) monsoon rainfall years show pronounced positive (negative) anomalies during the month of May, at all the levels.  The pre-monsoon pressure of Darwin has significant positive correlation with the monsoon temperature at the surface and 850 hPa.


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