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North Atlantic as a Trigger for Pacific‐Wide Decadal Climate Change
Author(s) -
Yao ShuaiLei,
Zhou Wen,
Jin FeiFei,
Zheng Fei
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2021gl094719
Subject(s) - teleconnection , climatology , rossby wave , pacific decadal oscillation , sea surface temperature , extratropical cyclone , geology , middle latitudes , kelvin wave , anomaly (physics) , oceanography , el niño southern oscillation , physics , condensed matter physics
The Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) features a basin‐scale horseshoe‐like sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly pattern. Its cold‐phase shift around 1999, implicated as a driver for the early‐2000s global warming slowdown, has been potentially linked to the Atlantic warming during the positive‐phase Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV). However, the key mechanism for the trans‐basin Atlantic‐Pacific teleconnection remains debatable. Here, we show that an AMV‐SST cooling can initiate a pan‐Pacific response. The North Atlantic cooling induces westerly wind anomalies over the central‐western equatorial Pacific as Kelvin‐wave responses and easterly wind anomalies over the far‐eastern equatorial Pacific as Rossby‐wave responses. Additionally, anomalous lows are generated over the extratropical North and South Pacific through the midlatitude Rossby wave propagation. The tropical and midlatitude teleconnections act together to develop into a warm‐phase IPO‐like pattern through the wind‐induced latent heat. Our results suggest a potential of advancing the predictability of IPO through a skillful simulation of AMV.