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Early and Extreme Warming in the South China Sea During 2015/2016: Role of an Unusual Indian Ocean Dipole Event
Author(s) -
Xiao Fuan,
Wang Dongxiao,
Leung Marco Y. T.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl089936
Subject(s) - anomaly (physics) , indian ocean dipole , climatology , rossby wave , anticyclone , sea surface temperature , subtropical indian ocean dipole , ocean heat content , predictability , geology , indian ocean , environmental science , oceanography , atmospheric sciences , physics , quantum mechanics , condensed matter physics
The South China Sea (SCS) experienced sea surface temperature that broke historical records in the autumn of 2015. This event cannot be explained by El Niño alone because the SCS usually warms during the El Niño peak and decaying phases. We show that an early anomalous anticyclone (AAC) establishment over the SCS in August contributed to this early warming. Analysis and simple modeling results reveal that such an early AAC establishment could be interpreted as a direct Rossby wave response to a cooling anomaly over the Maritime Continent (MC) and a Kelvin wave response to a heating anomaly over the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO). An unusual Indian Ocean dipole event contributed to the atmospheric heating anomaly over the TIO and made the cooling anomaly shrink to MC region. We should take into consideration the Indian Ocean SST patterns to improve the predictability of extreme East Asian climate.