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ENSO has long been known to have a major influence on marine ecosystems in the tropical Pacific. A critical but poorly understood link between the marine ecosystem changes and ENSO dynamics (...)
Figure 1. More persistent cold conditions in boreal spring and early summer after a multiyear La Niña, compared to those before a strong El Niño (left, a, c), inhibit an eastward movement and enhancement of atmosphere deep convection (right, b, d), leading to a decoupled ocean and atmosphere that delay the growth of a subsequent El Niño.
Our CLIVAR member Satyaban Bishoyi Ratna from Climate Dynamics Panel and Monsoons Panel recently published the article which explored two distinct types of evolution in La Niña and the associated asymmetry in the response of the ISMR. It was observed that India receives significantly more and less rainfall during ELLA and LALA events, respectively, and ISMR has a spatial diversity with a northeast-southwest dipole pattern.
Our CLIVAR members Prof. Fangli Qiao and Dr. Qi Shu, from SSG and NORP respectively, and former OMDP member Qiang Wang, contributed to the study of Marine Heatwaves (MHWs) and Total Heat Exposures (THEs) in a future warming climate.
A member of the CLIVAR Tropical Basin Interaction Research Foci (TBI RF) recently published a paper that highlights the importance of coupled dynamics between the tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans in shaping and intensifying super El Niño events. Their study, which utilizes a series of global climate model experiments, demonstrates that super El Niño events are driven by a complex interaction among the tropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. It was observed that while individual effects were weaker and more uncertain, the combined effects were significantly stronger and more reliable. Specifically, the joint influence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans was found to more effectively drive tropical Pacific warming. This process is linked to the nonlinear characteristics of convective sensitivity: when both oceans impact the Pacific simultaneously, they more effectively promote the eastward expansion of the Pacific warm pool, enhancing tropical Pacific convection and strengthening the Bjerknes feedback loop, ultimately leading to the formation of a super El Niño event.
A new study published in Climate Dynamics provides compelling evidence that this warming pattern has emerged in observations during 1979–2020, and is primarily driven by external forcing—particularly from greenhouse gases (GHGs) and anthropogenic aerosols.
The Tropical Pacific Decadal Variability (TPDV) Working Group of the CLIVAR Pacific Region Panel recently published a review paper that evaluates our understanding of the mechanisms behind TPDV. No final consensus exists on the relative importance and efficacy of the mechanisms, but the tropical ocean adjustment to varying wind forcing likely plays a key role in the origin of decadal timescales. These processes are elucidated in this review paper which is a product of rigorous discussions at several virtual meetings over the span of two years since the working group’s establishment in May 2021.
Researchers from the Ocean and Atmosphere Studies Laboratory (LOA), National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and collaborators, published the article “Oceanic SACZ produces an abnormally wet 2021/2022 rainy season in South America”, in Scientific Reports.
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are events characterized by prolonged and extremely warm ocean conditions, and have been detected in recent decades over many regions of the global ocean. Some recent studies led by D. Mawren and with the contribution from J. Hermes (co-chair of IORP), provide an improved understanding of the important role of horizontal advection, associated with anticyclonic eddies on the evolution of MHWs, as well as the co-occurring extremes in the Mozambique Channel.
A recent study led by Dr. Lijing Cheng, a member of the CLIVAR Global Synthesis and Observations Panel (GSOP), indicated that 2022 was another year of record heat for the oceans.
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