scholarly journals The relationship between intraseasonal tropical variability and ENSO simulated by the CMIP5

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Matveeva ◽  
Daria Gushchina
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Phase Lag ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Tropical Variability ◽  
Intraseasonal Tropical Variability ◽  
Equatorial Rossby Waves

Abstract. This study evaluates the simulation of relationship between intraseasonal tropical variability (ITV) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in 23 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) phase 5 (CMIP5) in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). As a first step, the models' skill in simulating ENSO diversity is assessed, which indicates that 16 models among 23 are able to simulate realistically the statistics of the relative size of two types of El Niño. The characteristics of the ITV are then documented revealing that only five models (CMCC-CM, CCSM4, BNU-ESM, INMCM4 and MIROC5) simulate realistically the parameters crucial for proper reproducing of ITV contribution to the El Niño, in particular the total variability, seasonal cycle and propagation along the equator of Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) and convectively coupled equatorial Rossby waves (ER). At last step the ITV/ENSO relationship in the models are analyzed and compared to observation. It is shown that the key aspects of this interaction such as phase lag between ITV peak activity and El Niño peak and longitude localization of maximum correlation between ITV and ENSO is realistically simulated by CMCC-CM and MIROC5 for MJO and CMCC-CM and INMCM4 for equatorial Rossby waves. These models are capable to reproduce the distinct MJO and ER behavior associated to the two El Niño flavors. Aforementioned models may be used for the investigation of the sensitivity of the ITV/ENSO seasonal dependence to global warming.

scholarly journals The relationship between intraseasonal tropical variability and ENSO and its modulation at seasonal to decadal timescales

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Gushchina ◽  
Boris Dewitte
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
El Nino ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Tropical Variability ◽  
Intraseasonal Tropical Variability

AbstractThe intraseasonal tropical variability (ITV) patterns in the tropical troposphere are documented using double space-time Fourier analysis. Madden and Julian oscillations (MJO) as well as equatorial coupled waves (Kelvin and Rossby) are investigated based on the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data for the 1977–2006 period and the outputs of an intermediate ocean-atmosphere coupled model named LODCA-OTCM. A strong seasonal dependence of the ITV/ENSO relationship is evidenced. The leading relationship for equatorial Rossby waves (with the correlation of the same order than for the MJO) is documented; namely, it is shown that intensification of Rossby waves in the central Pacific during boreal summer precedes by half a year the peak of El Niño. The fact that MJO activity in spring-summer is associated to the strength of subsequent El Niño is confirmed. It is shown that LODCA-QTCM is capable of simulating the convectively coupled equatorial waves in outgoing long wave radiation and zonal wind at 850 hPa fields with skill comparable to other Coupled General Circulation Models. The ITV/ENSO relationship is modulated at low frequency. In particular the periods of low ENSO amplitude are associated with weaker MJO activity and a cancellation of MJO at the ENSO development phase. In opposition, during the decaying phase, MJO signal is strong. The periods of strong ENSO activity are associated with a marked coupling between MJO, Kelvin and equatorially Rossby waves and ENSO; the precursor signal of MJO (Rossby waves) in the western (central) Pacific is obvious. The results provide material for the observed change in ENSO characteristics in recent years and question whether the characteristics of the ITV/ENSO relationship may be sensitive to the observed warming in the central tropical Pacific.

scholarly journals The seasonal relationship between intraseasonal tropical variability and ENSO in CMIP5

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2373-2392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Matveeva ◽  
Daria Gushchina ◽  
Boris Dewitte
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Tropical Variability ◽  
Large Dispersion ◽  
Enso Diversity ◽  
Intraseasonal Tropical Variability

Abstract. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is tightly linked to the intraseasonal tropical variability (ITV) that contributes to energise the deterministic ocean dynamics during the development of El Niño. Here, the relationship between ITV and ENSO is assessed based on models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) phase 5 (CMIP5) taking into account the so-called diversity of ENSO, that is, the existence of two types of events (central Pacific versus eastern Pacific El Niño). As a first step, the models' skill in simulating ENSO diversity is assessed. The characteristics of the ITV are then documented revealing a large dispersion within an ensemble of 16 models. A total of 11 models exhibit some skill in simulating the key aspects of the ITV for ENSO: the total variance along the Equator, the seasonal cycle and the characteristics of the propagation along the Equator of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) and the convectively coupled equatorial Rossby (ER) waves. Five models that account realistically for both the two types of El Niño events and ITV characteristics are used for the further analysis of seasonal ITV ∕ ENSO relationship. The results indicate a large dispersion among the models and an overall limited skill in accounting for the observed seasonal ITV ∕ ENSO relationship. Implications of our results are discussed in light of recent studies on the forcing mechanism of ENSO diversity.

scholarly journals Indian Ocean Dipolelike Variability in the CSIRO Mark 3 Coupled Climate Model

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1449-1468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenju Cai ◽  
Harry H. Hendon ◽  
Gary Meyers
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Sea Surface

Abstract Coupled ocean–atmosphere variability in the tropical Indian Ocean is explored with a multicentury integration of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Mark 3 climate model, which runs without flux adjustment. Despite the presence of some common deficiencies in this type of coupled model, zonal dipolelike variability is produced. During July through November, the dominant mode of variability of sea surface temperature resembles the observed zonal dipole and has out-of-phase rainfall variations across the Indian Ocean basin, which are as large as those associated with the model El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the positive dipole phase, cold SST anomaly and suppressed rainfall south of the equator on the Sumatra–Java coast drives an anticyclonic circulation anomaly that is consistent with the steady response (Gill model) to a heat sink displaced south of the equator. The northwest–southeast tilting Sumatra–Java coast results in cold sea surface temperature (SST) centered south of the equator, which forces anticylonic winds that are southeasterly along the coast, which thus produces local upwelling, cool SSTs, and promotes more anticylonic winds; on the equator, the easterlies raise the thermocline to the east via upwelling Kelvin waves and deepen the off-equatorial thermocline to the west via off-equatorial downwelling Rossby waves. The model dipole mode exhibits little contemporaneous relationship with the model ENSO; however, this does not imply that it is independent of ENSO. The model dipole often (but not always) develops in the year following El Niño. It is triggered by an unrealistic transmission of the model’s ENSO discharge phase through the Indonesian passages. In the model, the ENSO discharge Rossby waves arrive at the Sumatra–Java coast some 6 to 9 months after an El Niño peaks, causing the majority of model dipole events to peak in the year after an ENSO warm event. In the observed ENSO discharge, Rossby waves arrive at the Australian northwest coast. Thus the model Indian Ocean dipolelike variability is triggered by an unrealistic mechanism. The result highlights the importance of properly representing the transmission of Pacific Rossby waves and Indonesian throughflow in the complex topography of the Indonesian region in coupled climate models.

scholarly journals Will There Be a Significant Change to El Niño in the Twenty-First Century?

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 2129-2145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Stevenson ◽  
Baylor Fox-Kemper ◽  
Markus Jochum ◽  
Richard Neale ◽  
Clara Deser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
Enso Variability ◽  
Tropical Variability ◽  
Twenty First Century

Abstract The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) response to anthropogenic climate change is assessed in the following 1° nominal resolution Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations: twentieth-century ensemble, preindustrial control, twenty-first-century projections, and stabilized 2100–2300 “extension runs.” ENSO variability weakens slightly with CO2; however, various significance tests reveal that changes are insignificant at all but the highest CO2 levels. Comparison with the 1850 control simulation suggests that ENSO changes may become significant on centennial time scales; the lack of signal in the twentieth- versus twenty-first-century ensembles is due to their limited duration. Changes to the mean state are consistent with previous studies: a weakening of the subtropical wind stress curl, an eastward shift of the tropical convective cells, a reduction in the zonal SST gradient, and an increase in vertical thermal stratification take place as CO2 increases. The extratropical thermocline deepens throughout the twenty-first century, with the tropical thermocline changing slowly in response. The adjustment time scale is set by the relevant ocean dynamics, and the delay in its effect on ENSO variability is not diminished by increasing ensemble size. The CCSM4 results imply that twenty-first-century simulations may simply be too short for identification of significant tropical variability response to climate change. An examination of atmospheric teleconnections, in contrast, shows that the remote influences of ENSO do respond rapidly to climate change in some regions, particularly during boreal winter. This suggests that changes to ENSO impacts may take place well before changes to oceanic tropical variability itself become significant.

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 The Impact of the Madden–Julian Oscillation on High-Latitude Winter Blocking during El Niño–Southern Oscillation Events

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (13) ◽  
pp. 5293-5318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Henderson ◽  
Eric D. Maloney
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Madden Julian Oscillation ◽  
West Pacific ◽  
East Indian ◽  
East Indian Ocean

Wintertime high-latitude blocking is associated with persistent changes in temperature and precipitation over much of the Northern Hemisphere. Studies have shown that the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), the primary form of intraseasonal tropical variability, significantly modulates the frequency of high-latitude blocking through large-scale Rossby waves that alter the global circulation. However, the characteristics of MJO teleconnections are altered by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which modifies the global flow on interannual time scales, suggesting that the MJO influence on blocking may depend on the ENSO phase. The characteristics of MJO Rossby waves and blocking during ENSO events are examined using composite analysis and a nonlinear baroclinic model. The ENSO phase-dependent teleconnection patterns are found to significantly impact Pacific and Atlantic high-latitude blocking. During El Niño, a significant persistent increase in Pacific and Atlantic blocking follows the real-time multivariate MJO (RMM) phase 7, characterized by anomalous enhanced tropical convection over the East Indian Ocean and suppressed west Pacific convection. The maximum Atlantic blocking increase is triple the climatological winter mean. Results suggest that the MJO provides the initial dipole anomaly associated with the Atlantic blocking increase, and transient eddy activity aids in its persistence. However, during La Niña significant blocking anomalies are primarily observed during the first half of an MJO event. Significant suppression of Pacific and Atlantic blocking follows RMM phase 3, when east Indian Ocean MJO convection is suppressed and west Pacific convection is enhanced. The physical basis for these results is explained.

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