Linking emergence of the central Pacific El Ni?o to the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation
Journal
Journal of Climate
Journal Volume
28
Journal Issue
2
Pages
651-662
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Abstract
The ocean-atmosphere coupling in the northeastern subtropical Pacific is dominated by a Pacific meridional mode (PMM), which spans between the extratropical and tropical Pacific and plays an important role in connecting extratropical climate variability to the occurrence of El Niño. Analyses of observational data and numerical model experiments were conducted to demonstrate that the PMM (and the subtropical Pacific coupling) experienced a rapid strengthening in the early 1990s and that this strengthening is related to an intensification of the subtropical Pacific high caused by a phase change of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). This PMM strengthening favored the development of more central Pacific (CP)-type El Niño events. The recent shift from more conventional eastern Pacific (EP) to more CP-type El Niño events can thus be at least partly understood as a Pacific Ocean response to a phase change in the AMO. © 2015 American Meteorological Society.
SDGs
Other Subjects
Climate models; Climatology; Atlantic multidecadal oscillations; Eastern pacific; Extratropical; Extratropical climate variability; Model experiments; Observational data; Ocean atmosphere; Pacific ocean; Tropics; Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation; atmosphere-ocean coupling; climate variation; El Nino; numerical model; Pacific Ocean; Pacific Ocean (Central)
Type
journal article