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Niño 4 West (Niño‐4W) Sea Surface Temperature Variability
Author(s) -
Feng Ming,
Zhang Ying,
Hendon Harry H.,
McPhaden Michael J.,
Marshall Andrew G.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1029/2021jc017591
Subject(s) - advection , sea surface temperature , climatology , environmental science , skewness , geology , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , physics , statistics , mathematics , thermodynamics
Sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the western half of the Niño 4 region (Niño‐4W), bounded by 160°E−175°W and 5°S–5°N, has a significant impact on weather and the marine environment of the Indo‐Pacific. It exhibits significant negative skewness, with the strong penetration of the cold tongue into the western Pacific during strong La Niñas but a more muted response during El Niños. Zonal advection plays a dominant role in driving Niño‐4W SST cooling during the strong La Niña events; vertical processes also contribute, with air‐sea heat fluxes providing weak negative feedback. Advection also plays a key role in driving the Niño‐4W SST warming, which is not always in sync with El Niño events. Among the advection terms, the advection of mean temperature by zonal velocity anomalies, or zonal advective feedback, plays a key role during the development phase of the warm and cold events. Strong negative air‐sea heat flux anomalies during the development of warm events are linked to the negative SST skewness in the Niño‐4W region.