Mechanism of the Zonal Displacements of the Pacific Warm Pool: Implications for ENSO

Picaut, Judicaël; Ioualalen, Mansour; Menkès, Christophe E.; Delcroix, Thierry; McPhaden, Michael J.

doi:10.1126/science.274.5292.1486

Cited by 363 publications

(265 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…These Kelvin waves initiate the relaxation of the zonal sea level and thermocline gradients, followed by advection of the western equatorial warm pool into the central Pacific. The warmer waters, usually defined as greater than 28øC [Picaut et al, 1996] are very low in nutrients [Mackey et al, 1995], especially NO3. Their advection over the central region of the Pacific, combined with the cessation of upwelling leads to dramatically reduced phytoplankton productivity in the equatorial Pacific.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary productivity in the equatorial Pacific during the 1997–1998 El Niño

Strutton¹,

Chávez²

2000

J. Geophys. Res.

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Abstract. Shipboard biological and physical measurements made during 1996, 1997, and 1998 in the equatorial Pacific are used to quantify the effect of the 1997-1998 E1Nifio on the phytoplankton community. This E1 Nifio was by some measures the strongest ever observed and resulted in extremely low phytoplankton biomass and productivity throughout this normally moderately productive region. At the height of the event in late 1997 to early 1998, in the central Pacific, nitrate was absent throughout the entire euphotic zone (~ 100 m), resulting in chlorophyll concentrations (0.05 #g L -l) that were among the lowest ever observed in the region and rates of primary production (~0.41 g C m -2 d -•) that were approximately half the climatological mean. These conditions persisted until May 1998 when the trade winds resumed and upwelling, with its associated supply of nutrients, was restored along the equatorial Pacific. The phytoplankton community quickly recovered, and by June 1998, nitrate, chlorophyll, and primary productivity levels were comparable to, or in excess of, their respective climatological means.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary productivity in the equatorial Pacific during the 1997–1998 El Niño

Strutton¹,

Chávez²

2000

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…On the contrary, because of evaporation and equatorial upwelling, the cold tongue is composed of high salinity water. Recently, it was found that the water masses of these two regions converge zonally into a well-defined salinity front [Picaut et al, 1996]. This convergence also leads to the formation of the barrier layer [Lukas and Lindstrb'm, 1991] in the isothermal layer of the warm pool [Vialard and Delecluse, 1998b].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The oceanic zone of convergence on the eastern edge of the Pacific warm pool: A synthesis of results and implications for El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and biogeochemical phenomena

Picaut¹,

Ioualalen²,

Delcroix³

et al. 2001

J. Geophys. Res.

110

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“…In other words, the selection of NINO3 may be justified by the perturbation theory for a coupled atmosphere-ocean model, even if Yang et al (2006) results may be strongly model dependent. From an observational point of view, the eastern edge of the warm pool in the central Pacific seems to be where the atmospheric response is the strongest (e.g., Palmer and Mansfield 1984;Kessler et al 1995;Picaut et al 1996). However for the selection of El Niño years, NINO3 or NINO3.4 SST give the same result.…”

Section: Indicesmentioning

confidence: 56%

ENSO and Its Effects on the Atmospheric Heating Processes

Miyakoda

Cherchi

Navarra

et al. 2012

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important air-sea coupled phenomenon that plays a dominant role in the variability of the tropical regions. Observations, atmospheric and oceanic reanalysis datasets are used to classify ENSO and non-ENSO years to investigate the typical features of its periodicity and atmospheric circulation patterns. Among non-ENSO years, we have analyzed a group, called type-II years, with very small SST anomalies in summer that tend to weaken the correlation between ENSO and precipitation in the equatorial regions. A unique character of ENSO is studied in terms of the quasi-biennial periodicity of SST and heat content (HC) fields over the Pacific-Indian Oceans. While the SST tends to have higher biennial frequency along the Equator, the HC maximizes it into two centers in the western Pacific sector. The north-western center, located east of Mindanao, is strongly correlated with SST in the NINO3 region. The classification of El Niño and La Niña years, based on NINO3 SST and north-western Pacific HC respectively, has been used to identify and describe temperature and wind patterns over an extended-ENSO region that includes the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans.The description of the spatial patterns within the atmospheric ENSO circulation has been extended to tropospheric moisture fields and low-level moisture divergence during November-December-January, differentiating the role of El Niño, when large amounts of condensational heat are concentrated in the central Pacific, from La Niña that tends to mainly redistribute heat to Maritime Continents and higher latitudes. The influence of the described mechanisms on equatorial convection in the context of the variability of ENSO on longer timescales for the end of the 20th century is questioned. However, the inaccuracy of the atmospheric reanalysis products in terms of precipitation and the shorter time length of more reliable datasets hamper a final conclusion on this issue.

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Mechanism of the Zonal Displacements of the Pacific Warm Pool: Implications for ENSO

Cited by 363 publications

References 24 publications

Primary productivity in the equatorial Pacific during the 1997–1998 El Niño

Primary productivity in the equatorial Pacific during the 1997–1998 El Niño

The oceanic zone of convergence on the eastern edge of the Pacific warm pool: A synthesis of results and implications for El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and biogeochemical phenomena

ENSO and Its Effects on the Atmospheric Heating Processes

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