Different Responses of Sea Surface Temperature in the South China Sea to Various El Niño Events during Boreal Autumn

This study investigates variations of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the South China Sea (SCS) during developing autumn of various El Nino events. The warm SST anomalies are observed in the SCS for canonical El Nino and El Nino Modoki I, whereas the cold SST anomalies are found for El Nino Modoki II. The ocean heat budget analyses show that the latent heat flux change induced by various types of El Nino events is a major contributor to the SCS SST variations. An anomalous anticyclone resides near the Philippine Sea for canonical El Nino and El Nino Modoki I, which induces the southerly wind anomalies over the SCS and thus weakens the climatological northeasterly in boreal autumn. The weakened surface wind speed reduces heat loss from the ocean, leading to a warmer state in the SCS. However, for El Nino Modoki II, the anomalous anticyclone shifts westward to the west of the SCS, and thus the northeasterly wind anomalies appear in the SCS. The northeasterly anomalies enhance the climatol...