Abstract The influence of eastern tropical Pacific (EPAC; 10°S–10°N, 140°–80°W) wind anomalies on El Niño is investigated using observations and model experiments. Extreme and moderate El Niños exhibit contrasting anomalous wind patterns in the EPAC during the peak and decay phases: westerly wind anomalies during extreme El Niño and southeasterly (southwesterly) wind anomalies south (north) of the equator during moderate El Niño. Experiments with an ocean general circulation model indicate that for extreme El Niño, the eastward intrusion of westerly wind anomalies contributes to the prolonged positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific throughout boreal spring by weakened upwelling and horizontal advection. For moderate El Niño, by contrast, both the meridional and zonal anomalous winds over the EPAC are important in the rapid (slow) SST cooling south (north) of the equator through advection and wind–evaporation–SST feedback. Atmospheric model experiments confirm that these EPAC anomalous winds are primarily forced by tropical SST anomalies. The interplay between wind and SST anomalies suggests positive air–sea feedbacks over EPAC during the decay phase of El Niño. Ocean model results show that the frequency of extreme El Niño increases when EPAC wind anomalies are removed, suggesting the importance of EPAC windsmore »
Role of Stochastic Atmospheric Forcing from the South and North Pacific in Tropical Pacific Decadal Variability
Stochastic variability of internal atmospheric modes, known as teleconnection patterns, drives large-scale patterns of low-frequency SST variability in the extratropics . To investigate how the decadal component of this stochastically driven variability in the South and North Pacific affects the tropical Pacific and contributes to the observed basinwide pattern of decadal variability, a suite of climate model experiments was conducted . In these experiments, the models are forced with constant surface heat flux anomalies associated with the decadal component of the dominant atmospheric modes, particularly the Pacific–South American (PSA) and North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) patterns . Both the PSA and NPO modes induce basinwide SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific and beyond that resemble the observed interdecadal Pacific oscillation . The subtropical SST anomalies forced by the PSA and NPO modes propagate to the equatorial Pacific mainly through the wind–evaporation–SST feedback . This atmospheric bridge is stronger from the South Pacific than the North Pacific due to the northward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone and the associated northward advection of momentum anomalies. The equatorial ocean dynamics is also more strongly influenced by atmospheric circulation changes induced by the PSA mode than the NPO mode. In the PSA experiment, persistent more »
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10103599
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Climate
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 13
- Page Range or eLocation-ID:
- p. 4013-4038
- ISSN:
- 0894-8755
- Publisher:
- American Meteorological Society
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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