Stratospheric ozone depletion has contributed to the recent tropical La Niña-like cooling pattern
Journal
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
Journal Volume
8
Journal Issue
1
ISSN
2397-3722
Date Issued
2025-04-22
Author(s)
Abstract
Despite the continuous global warming, over the past several decades, the tropical East Pacific has experienced a cooling trend whose origin remains an area of active research. Mounting evidence has linked tropical sea-surface temperature (SST) patterns to changes in the Southern Ocean via remote teleconnections. Using a fully-coupled global climate model, we demonstrate that stratospheric ozone depletion can produce a La Niña-like tropical SST trend pattern resembling recent observations. This tropical response initially arises from mid-latitude ocean adjustments to ozone-driven surface wind anomalies, which then enhance in the tropics via positive cloud feedback and wind-evaporation-SST feedback. Our finding suggests that the observed La Niña-like tropical SST trend pattern may have been, in part, caused by the formation of the ozone hole in the late 20th century. It also implies that ozone recovery in the coming decades will likely contribute to a future weakening or reversal of the observed tropical SST trends.
Subjects
Southern Ocean
climate change
climate modeling
cooling
La Nina
ozone depletion
sea surface temperature
stratosphere
teleconnection
trend analysis
SDGs
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Type
journal article