Remote impacts of 2009 and 2015 El Niño on oceanic and biological processes in a marginal sea of the Northwestern Pacific

The significance of long-term teleconnections derived from the anomalous climatic conditions of El Niño has been a highly debated topic, where the remote response of coastal hydrodynamics and marine ecosystems to El Niño conditions is not completely understood. The 14-year long data from a ship-borne acoustic Doppler current profiler was used to examine the El Niño’s impact, in particular, 2009 and 2015 El Niño events, on oceanic and biological processes in coastal regions across the Korea/Tsushima Strait. Here, it was revealed that the summer volume transport could be decreased by 8.7% (from 2.46 ± 0.39 to 2.24 ± 0.26 Sv) due to the anomalous northerly winds in the developing year of El Niño. Furthermore, the fall mean volume backscattering strength could be decreased by 1.8% (from − 97.09 ± 2.14 to − 98.84 ± 2.10 dB) due to the decreased surface solar radiation after the El Niño events. Overall, 2009 and 2015 El Niño events remotely affected volume transport and zooplankton abundance across the Korea/Tsushima Strait through climatic teleconnections.

Trends, periodicities and ENSO relationship of New Zealand rainfall

The rainfall series for six homogeneous regions of New Zealand for 1901-1996 were not well intercorrelated (maximum correlation +0.6). Rainfalls were almost equally spread in all months. Trends (total changes over about 90 years) were ~0, +11, +2, -6, +1, +8 (±~4)% for the six regions. For seasonal rainfall, large trends were -19% for DJF and +16% for MAM of region 1. Spectral analysis showed peaks in QBO (Quasi-biennial oscillations, 2-3 years) range and near 3, 4-5, 6-9, 10-11 years and higher periodicities. ENSO relationships were not clear-cut. In individual El Niño events, only the very strong events of 1972-73, 1982-83 and 1997-98 were associated with widespread droughts in New Zealand, while the 1940-41 El Niño event was associated with excess rainfall. During the durations of all other El Niño events, New Zealand rainfalls were excess or deficit for a few months, followed by deficit or excess for the next few months (oscillatory nature), similar in all regions in some events, dissimilar in others, with no preference for any season. During La Niña (anti-El Niño) events also, oscillations were observed.

Trends, periodicities and ENSO relationships of the annual precipitation over the contiguous United States and Southern Canada

The century-long (1891-1990) time series of Groisman and Easterling (1994a,b) representing estimates of annual precipitation amounts over five homogeneous regions of the United States and Southern Canada (south of 55° N) were examined for trends, periodicities and ENSO relationships. The trends were not uniformly up or down during the 100-year interval, for any region. From 1891 to about 1930, the trends were downward or negligible. Thereafter, the trends were mostly upward, with cyclic variations superposed. A spectral analysis revealed significant periodicities in the QBO and QTO regions (2-3 years and 3-4 years) as also higher periodicities, some common to all regions and hence seen in the series for the entire region. To study the ENSO relationship, a finer classification of El Nino events was used. Each year was examined to check whether it had an El Nino (EN) and/or a Southern Oscillation Index SOI minimum (SO) and/or warm (W) or cold (C) equatorial eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures SST. Several years were ENSOW, which were further subdivided into two groups viz. Unambiguous ENSOW where El Nino existed and SOI minima and SST maxima were in the middle of the calendar year (May-Aug) and, Ambiguous ENSOW where El Nino existed but the SOI minima and SST maxima were in the early or late part of the calendar year, not in the middle. Other El Nino events were of the type ENSO, ENW, ENC, EN. For the All India summer monsoon rainfall, Unambiguous ENSOW were overwhelmingly associated with droughts. For the rainfall in USA and Canada, relationships were not clear-cut except in the Gulf-Mexico region and some other parts. For these regions, excess rains were associated better with the Unambiguous ENSOW.

Distinct Evolution of Sea Surface Temperature over the Cold Tongue Region in South China Sea during Various El Niño Events

This study investigates the evolution of the sea surface temperature (SST) over the cold tongue (CT) region in the central South China Sea (SCS) during various El Niño events. A significant and distinct double-peak warming evolution can occur during EP El Niño and CP El Niño events, with the former being more remarkable and robust than the latter. Further analyses show that the weak and insignificant CT SST anomaly in CP El Niño events is influenced by some CP El Niño events in which the warm sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) is located west of 175° E (WCP El Niño). The response of CT SSTA mainly depends on the warm SSTA location of CP El Niño. The different corresponding mechanisms in winter, spring and summer are discussed respectively in this work. Further analysis reveals that the weak and insignificant SST anomaly over the CT region in CP El Niño events is caused by the faint SSTA response during the WCP El Niño events. The results of this study call attention to the response of the SCS climate in both atmosphere and ocean to the diversity of ENSO, especially the CP El Niño.

Multi-year El Niño events tied to the North Pacific Oscillation

Multi-year El Niño events induce severe and persistent floods and droughts worldwide, with significant socioeconomic impacts, but the causes of their long-lasting behaviors are still not fully understood. Here we present a two-way feedback mechanism between the tropics and extratropics to argue that extratropical atmospheric variability associated with the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) is a key source of multi-year El Niño events. The NPO during boreal winter can trigger a Central Pacific (CP) El Niño during the subsequent winter, which excites atmospheric teleconnections to the extratropics that project onto the NPO variability, then re-triggers another El Niño event in the following winter, finally resulting in persistent El Niño-like states. Model experiments, with the NPO forcing assimilated to constrain atmospheric circulation, replicate the observed connection between NPO forcing and the occurrence of multi-year El Niño events. Future projections of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phases 5 and 6 (CMIP5 and CMIP6) models demonstrate that if the projected NPO variability becomes enhanced under future anthropogenic forcing, then more frequent multi-year El Niño events should be expected. We conclude that properly accounting for the effects of the NPO on the evolution of El Niño events may improve multi-year El Niño prediction and projection.

Different responses of Central Asian precipitation to strong and weak El Niño events

The present study investigated impacts of strong and weak El Niño events on Central Asian precipitation variability from El Niño developing years to decaying years. It is found that strong El Niño events persistently enhance Central Asian precipitation from the mature winter to decaying summer. Large warm sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the tropical central-eastern Pacific induce anomalous upper-level divergence and updraft over Central Asia through large-scale convergence and divergence in the mature winter and decaying spring. Meanwhile, the associated wind anomalies induce anomalous eastward and northeastward moisture flux from the North Atlantic and Arabian Sea to Central Asia. Both anomalous ascent and moisture flux convergence favor above-normal precipitation over Central Asia in the mature winter and decaying spring. The El Niño events induced Central Asian precipitation anomalies are extended to the decaying summer due to the role of soil moisture. Increased rainfall in winter and spring enhances soil moisture in the following summer, which in turn, contributes to more precipitation in summer through modulating regional evaporation. During weak El Niño events, significant wet anomalies are only seen in the developing autumn, which result from anomalous southeastward moisture flux from the Arctic Ocean, and the abnormal signals are weak in the other seasons. The different responses of Central Asian precipitation to strong and weak El Niño events may be attributed to the difference in intensity of tropical SST anomalies between the two types of events.

The Connection Between the Hadley Circulation and Meridional Structure of Tropical SST during ENSO from 1950 to 1977

The connection between the meridional structure of tropical sea surface temperature (SST) and the Hadley circulation (HC) under the effect of ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) from 1950 to 1977 is studied. We decompose the HC and zonal mean SST into equatorially symmetric (HES for HC, SES for SST) and asymmetric variations (HEA for HC, SEA for SST) to discuss the modulation of their connection by ENSO. During El Niño events from 1950 to 1977, the HC is less sensitive to the different SST meridional structures and expressed by response ratio. The ratio in La Niña and neutral events is around 4, which is equivalent to the result in the climatology. The reason for the decreased ratio during El Niño events is explored. The interdecadal variation in the linkage between the HC and tropical SST is due to a clear interdecadal shift in the impacts of ENSO on the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) SST. For the period 1950–1977, when El Niño events occur, larger SST warming amplitude is observed over the northern TIO (0°–15°N, 50°–100°E). However, the southern TIO (15°S–0°, 50°–100°E) shows greater warming amplitude during 1980–2016. The anomalous SST variation over the TIO linked to El Niño events alters the meridional SST distribution, inducing anomalies in the meridional circulation. These results can help us to understand the interdecadal modulation by ENSO of the relationship between tropical SST and the HC.

Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño

Greenland warming and ice loss have slowed down since the early 2010s, in contrast to the rest of the Arctic region. Both natural variability and anthropogenic forcing contribute to recent Greenland warming by reducing cloud cover and surface albedo, yet most climate models are unable to reasonably simulate the unforced natural variability. Here we show that a simplified atmospheric circulation model successfully simulates an atmospheric teleconnection from the tropics towards Greenland, which accounts for Greenland cooling through an intensified cyclonic circulation. Synthesis from observational analysis and model experiments indicate that over the last decade, more central Pacific El Niño events than canonical El Niño events have generated the atmospheric teleconnection by shifting the tropical rainfall zone poleward, which led to an intensified cyclonic circulation over Greenland. The intensified cyclonic circulation further extends into the Arctic Ocean in observations, whereas the model does not show a direct remote forcing from the tropics, implying the contribution of an indirect atmospheric forcing. We conclude that the frequent occurrence of central Pacific El Niño events has played a key role in the slow-down of Greenland warming and possibly Arctic sea-ice loss.