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Title: The Continuum of Northeast Pacific Marine Heatwaves and Their Relationship to the Tropical Pacific
Award ID(s):
1634996 1637632 1948627 2306046
NSF-PAR ID:
10213127
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume:
48
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0094-8276
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  1. Abstract

    Previous studies argued that the Pacific Meridional Mode (PMM) impacts tropical cyclone (TC) genesis variability over the southeastern part of the western North Pacific (SE‐WNP). Here, we find that the statistical relationship between PMM and SE‐WNP TC genesis frequency is dominated by their co‐variability on decadal timescales. The decadal component of the PMM exhibits very similar temporal and spatial features to quasi‐decadal tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability. The latter can affect SE‐WNP TC activity via changes in both zonal vertical wind shear and low‐level vorticity. In contrast, the interannual component of the PMM exhibits no statistically significant correlation with SE‐WNP TC genesis. Furthermore, observations show that both interannual and decadal variability of SE‐WNP TC activity are well correlated with the commonly used Niño3.4 El Niño‐Southern Oscillation index. Thus, equatorial Pacific SST variability is the dominant source of SE‐WNP TC activity predictability on different timescales.

     
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