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Strengthened relationship between the Antarctic Oscillation and ENSO after the mid-1990s during austral spring

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Abstract

This paper documents a decadal strengthened co-variability of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) and ENSO in austral spring after the mid-1990s. During the period 1979–93, the ENSO (AAO) spatial signatures are restricted to the tropics–midlatitudes (Antarctic–midlatitudes) of the Southern Hemisphere (SH), with a weak connection between the two oscillations. Comparatively, after the mid-1990s, the El Ni˜no-related atmospheric anomalies project on a negative AAO pattern with a barotropic structure in the mid–high latitudes of the SH. The expansion of El Ni˜no-related air temperature anomalies have a heightened impact on the meridional thermal structure of the SH, contributing to a weakened circumpolar westerly and strengthened subtropical jet. Meanwhile, the ENSO-related southern three-cell circulations expand poleward and then strongly couple the Antarctic and the tropics. Numerical simulation results suggest that the intensified connection between ENSO and SST in the South Pacific since the mid-1990s is responsible for the strengthened AAO–ENSO relationship.

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Acknowledgments

This research was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41421004 and 41210007) and the Special Fund for Public Welfare Industry (Meteorology) (Grant No. GYHY201306026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Tingting Han, Huijun Wang & Jianqi Sun

  2. Climate Change Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Tingting Han & Huijun Wang

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University for Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Huijun Wang & Jianqi Sun

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Tingting Han & Jianqi Sun

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  1. Tingting Han
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Correspondence to Tingting Han.

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Han, T., Wang, H. & Sun, J. Strengthened relationship between the Antarctic Oscillation and ENSO after the mid-1990s during austral spring. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 34, 54–65 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-016-6143-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-016-6143-6

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