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Title: On the Breakdown of ENSO's Relationship With Thermocline Depth in the Central-Equatorial Pacific

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl092335· OSTI ID:1850895
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Nanjing Univ. of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing (China). College of Atmospheric Science. CIC‐FEMD/ILCEC Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education; Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
  2. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
  3. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Joint Inst. for Marine and Atmospheric Research. School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
  4. Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (United States). Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract Recent classification of El Nino‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) into two types, Eastern (EP) and Central (CP) events, has highlighted the importance of the central Pacific. We show here that the local correlation between ENSO subsurface temperatures ( T sub ) in the upper 100‐m and thermocline depth anomalies breaks down in the central equatorial Pacific, whereas T sub remains well correlated with sea surface height anomalies. This observed difference in the central equatorial Pacific is simulated by almost all climate models. It arises from a vertically slanted T sub anomaly structure that is unique to the central equatorial Pacific. We show that this feature is an adiabatic response to wind‐driving that is even present in a linear dynamic model, as long as the model has enough baroclinic modes to adequately represent the observed vertical complexity. Our findings have implications for better understanding the different importance of thermocline feedback in CP and EP events.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0005110; AGS-1813611; AGS-1406601; DE‐SC0005110
OSTI ID:
1850895
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1782265
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 48, Issue 9; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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