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El Niño–Southern Oscillation Evolution Modulated by Atlantic Forcing
Author(s) -
Chikamoto Y.,
Johnson Z. F.,
Wang S.Y. Simon,
McPhaden M. J.,
Mochizuki T.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1029/2020jc016318
Subject(s) - tropical atlantic , atlantic equatorial mode , atlantic multidecadal oscillation , climatology , forcing (mathematics) , north atlantic deep water , north atlantic oscillation , atlantic hurricane , oceanography , el niño southern oscillation , geology , thermohaline circulation , environmental science , sea surface temperature , tropical cyclone
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.