Climate variability of the coupled Tropical‐Extratropical Ocean‐Atmosphere System

Wang, Chunzai; Weisberg, Robert H.

doi:10.1029/1998gl900082

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Deser and Blackmon 1995). Wang and Weisberg (1998) have proposed a mechanism that emphasizes the role of the atmospheric Hadley Circulation in linking these tropic and midlatitude anomalies.…”

Section: Enso Anomalies During the 1931±45 Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluctuations of the relationship between ENSO and northeast Australian rainfall

Cai¹,

Whetton²,

Pittock³

2001

Climate Dynamics

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It is well known that during an El NinÄ oSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) warm event, drought occurs in regions of northeastern (NE) Australia, leading to anomalously low annual rainfall. The present study explores¯uctuations of this ENSO-rainfall relationship. It is found that the relationship tends to weaken when the linearly detrended global mean temperature is rising or particularly high, as in the period of 1931±45 period and since the late 1970s. Prior to a weakening, a correlation pattern of increased rainfall during El NinÄ o events is seen ®rst in northwestern Australia, then in eastern and southeastern Australia, and eventually in NE Australia. The 1931±45 period was particularly intriguing, when in terms of rainfall variability over NE Australia, the interannual ENSO-rainfall relationship went through a process of weakening, reversal, and rapid recovery. Features associated with the reversal are therefore examined and these features are: (1) the global background anomaly pattern (upon which internnal ENSO events operate) is ENSO-like; (2) ENSO sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in tropical Paci®c are weaker compared with those averaged over all ENSO events, whereas SST anomalies in the midto-high latitude Paci®c (which have opposing polarity to those in tropical Paci®c) are larger; (3) there is strong coherence between ENSO and variability in northern mid-to high-latitudes; and (4) the relationship that an El NinÄ o event contributes to a warming anomaly of global mean SST weakens. Possible interrelationship among these features are discussed.

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Section: Enso Anomalies During the 1931±45 Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluctuations of the relationship between ENSO and northeast Australian rainfall

Cai¹,

Whetton²,

Pittock³

2001

Climate Dynamics

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“…The large-scale changes influence the trade winds and precondition the mean state of the thermocline in the equatorial ocean leading to prolonged periods of enhanced or reduced El Niño variability. Wang & Weisberg (1998) stressed the importance of the coupling between Walker and Hadley circulation to produce out-of-phase differences between tropical and extratropical sea-surface temperature anomalies.…”

Section: External Processes and Decadal Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

FLUID DYNAMICS OF El NIÑO VARIABILITY

Dijkstra

Burgers

2002

Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech.

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The El Niño variability in the equatorial Tropical Pacific is characterized by sea-surface temperature anomalies and associated changes in the atmospheric circulation. Through an enormous monitoring effort over the last decades, the relevant time scales and spatial patterns are fairly well documented. In the meantime, a hierarchy of models has been developed to understand the physics of this phenomenon and to make predictions of future variability. In this review, the robust and relevant details of the observations, the fluid mechanical "building blocks," the theory of the deterministic part of the variability, and the impact of small-scale ("noise") and remote ("external") processes are evaluated.

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“…Earlier studies considered decadal ENSO variability to be forced by decadal variability in the extratropical Pacific Ocean via ocean subduction, thermocline ventilation, or atmospheric teleconnections (e.g., McCreary and Lu 1994;Gu and Philander 1997;Wang and Weisberg 1998;Zhang et al 1998;Barnett et al 1999;Pierce et al 2000;McPhaden and Zhang 2002). Later studies suggested that decadal ENSO variability could originate internally within the tropics (e.g., Penland and Sardeshmukh 1995;Knutson et al 1997;Eckert and Latif 1997;Kirtman and Schopf 1998;Timmermann and Jin 2002;Timmermann 2003;Newman et al 2003;Yeh and Kirtman 2004;Newman 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reversed Spatial Asymmetries between El Niño and La Niña and Their Linkage to Decadal ENSO Modulation in CMIP3 Models

Kim

2011

Journal of Climate

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This study examines preindustrial simulations from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, phase 3 (CMIP3), models to show that a tendency exists for El Niñ o sea surface temperature anomalies to be located farther eastward than La Niñ a anomalies during strong El Niñ o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events but farther westward than La Niñ a anomalies during weak ENSO events. Such reversed spatial asymmetries are shown to force a slow change in the tropical Pacific Ocean mean state that in return modulates ENSO amplitude. CMIP3 models that produce strong reversed asymmetries experience cyclic modulations of ENSO intensity, in which strong and weak events occur during opposite phases of a decadal variability mode associated with the residual effects of the reversed asymmetries. It is concluded that the reversed spatial asymmetries enable an ENSO-tropical Pacific mean state interaction mechanism that gives rise to a decadal modulation of ENSO intensity and that at least three CMIP3 models realistically simulate this interaction mechanism.

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Climate variability of the coupled Tropical‐Extratropical Ocean‐Atmosphere System

Cited by 27 publications

References 13 publications

Fluctuations of the relationship between ENSO and northeast Australian rainfall

Fluctuations of the relationship between ENSO and northeast Australian rainfall

FLUID DYNAMICS OF El NIÑO VARIABILITY

Reversed Spatial Asymmetries between El Niño and La Niña and Their Linkage to Decadal ENSO Modulation in CMIP3 Models

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