The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerts a strong influence on tropical Atlantic variability, but it is also affected by Atlantic forcing. Previous research has proposed three Atlantic precursors for ENSO: the North tropical Atlantic, the equatorial Atlantic, and the entire tropical Atlantic. However, the relative importance of these Atlantic precursors for ENSO remains unclear. Here, we present evidence from a set of multimodel partial ocean assimilation experiments that equatorial Atlantic cooling is the main contributor for weakening equatorial zonal winds in the Indo-Pacific sector and subsequent ocean warming in the tropical Pacific. Opposite tendencies occur for a warmer equatorial Atlantic. The equatorial Atlantic affects the interbasin climate seesaw between the Atlantic and Pacific through an atmospheric zonal Wavenumber 1 pattern. However, model mean state biases and systematic errors prevent a precise assessment of the response times for the equatorial Pacific trade winds to Atlantic forcing.
Chikamoto, Y., et al. "El Niño–Southern Oscillation Evolution Modulated by Atlantic Forcing." Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, vol. 125, no. 8, Aug. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jc016318
Chikamoto, Y., Johnson, Z. F., Wang, S. ‐Y. Simon, McPhaden, M. J., & Mochizuki, T. (2020). El Niño–Southern Oscillation Evolution Modulated by Atlantic Forcing. Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, 125(8). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jc016318
Chikamoto, Y., Johnson, Z. F., Wang, S. ‐Y. Simon, et al., "El Niño–Southern Oscillation Evolution Modulated by Atlantic Forcing," Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans 125, no. 8 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jc016318
@article{osti_1803070,
author = {Chikamoto, Y. and Johnson, Z. F. and Wang, S. ‐Y. Simon and McPhaden, M. J. and Mochizuki, T.},
title = {El Niño–Southern Oscillation Evolution Modulated by Atlantic Forcing},
annote = {The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerts a strong influence on tropical Atlantic variability, but it is also affected by Atlantic forcing. Previous research has proposed three Atlantic precursors for ENSO: the North tropical Atlantic, the equatorial Atlantic, and the entire tropical Atlantic. However, the relative importance of these Atlantic precursors for ENSO remains unclear. Here, we present evidence from a set of multimodel partial ocean assimilation experiments that equatorial Atlantic cooling is the main contributor for weakening equatorial zonal winds in the Indo-Pacific sector and subsequent ocean warming in the tropical Pacific. Opposite tendencies occur for a warmer equatorial Atlantic. The equatorial Atlantic affects the interbasin climate seesaw between the Atlantic and Pacific through an atmospheric zonal Wavenumber 1 pattern. However, model mean state biases and systematic errors prevent a precise assessment of the response times for the equatorial Pacific trade winds to Atlantic forcing.},
doi = {10.1029/2020jc016318},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1803070},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans},
issn = {ISSN 2169-9275},
number = {8},
volume = {125},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
year = {2020},
month = {08}}