Abstract
The intensities of high-frequency (HF) variability with period less than 90 days at different phases of El Niño events were investigated through observational data analysis. A large asymmetry in the HF variability intensity between the developing phase and decaying phase (i.e., pre-peak stage versus post-peak stage) of eastern Pacific (EP) El Niño is revealed, while the amplitude and spatial pattern of the sea surface temperature anomaly during these two stages are almost same. The diagnosis shows that the asymmetry is significant not only on intraseasonal time scale (20–90 days) but also on synoptic time scale (less than 20 days). The anatomy analysis further unveils that the asymmetric synoptic variability between the two episodes arises from the asymmetric intensities of the equatorial Rossby and mixed Rossby gravity (MRG) waves. We suggest that the stronger vertical easterly wind shear in the pre-peak stage than that in the post-peak stage plays a vital role in causing the stronger synoptic equatorial Rossby and MRG waves in the pre-peak stage. Meanwhile, the drier atmosphere and more descending motion in the post-peak stage contribute to the weakened intraseasonal and synoptic variabilities in that stage. The aforementioned weakened easterly wind shear, drier atmosphere and more descending motion in the post-peak stage can be traced back to the occurrence of the anomalous anticyclone circulation over the western North Pacific since the decaying phase of El Niño. The essential role of large-scale environmental conditions in modulating the HF variability during the two episodes is further confirmed by modeling experiments.
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Acknowledgements
This work was jointly supported by the NSFC Grants 41630423, National Key Research and Development Program on Monitoring, Early Warning and Prevention of Major Natural Disaster (2018YFC1506002), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20190781), NSF AGS-2006553, NOAA NA18OAR4310298, NSF AGS-1643297, the General Program of Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (19KJB170019), the LASG Open Project, the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quartary Geology (SKLLQG1802), and the Startup Foundation for Introducing Talent of NUIST. This is SOEST contribution number 11096, IPRC contribution number 1456 and ESMC number 315.
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Sun, M., Li, T. & Chen, L. El Niño phase-dependent high-frequency variability in Western Equatorial Pacific. Clim Dyn 55, 2165–2184 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-020-05376-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-020-05376-2