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The importance of inter‐basin atmospheric teleconnection in the SST footprint of Atlantic multidecadal oscillation over western Pacific

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Abstract

Western Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) multidecadal fluctuations are synchronized to the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) phenomenon during the instrumental period. The possible mechanism of the inter-basin synchronization of multidecadal SST variability still remains a matter of discussion regarding the roles of external radiative forcing and internal inter-basin interaction. Here we address this issue using simulations of CMIP5 coupled models and a partially coupled model experiment with prescribed SSTs over the North Atlantic. Observational analysis suggests that in association with the warm AMO phase, prominent SST warming occurs over the western Pacific, accompanied by anomalous low pressures and ascending motion that maintain the warm SST anomalies through positive feedback of local air–sea interaction. The upward motion in the western Pacific corresponds to a significant intensification of Pacific zonal Walker circulation, which is coupled with an increase in the zonal gradient of atmospheric temperature aloft. The CMIP5 model simulated externally forced component of AMO-related changes in western Pacific SST is weak, associated with little change in Pacific zonal circulation showing an absence of anomalous upward motion over the western Pacific, and this is primarily resultant from the negligible changes in the zonal gradient of atmospheric temperature as a direct thermal response to the external radiative forcing. By contrast, the partially coupled model simulation forced by the Atlantic SST variations reasonably reproduces the observed AMO-related changes in western Pacific SST and pan-tropical atmospheric circulation. A surface radiation budget analysis for the western Pacific shows contrasting roles of AMO-related surface incoming solar radiation between the reanalysis/partially coupled model simulation and the forced signal in CMIP5, further confirming the key role of dynamically induced inter-basin atmospheric teleconnection in the multidecadal SST footprint of AMO over the western Pacific.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that helped improve our manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41975082, 41775038, 41976193 and 41676190).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Global Change and Earth System Science (GCESS), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Cheng Sun & Yusen Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change, Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Institute for Climate and Application Research (ICAR), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

    Jiaqing Xue

  3. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy

    Fred Kucharski

  4. Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System (FDOMES)/Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography/Institute for Advanced Ocean Studies, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

    Jianping Li

  5. Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Climate, Pilot Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China

    Jianping Li

  6. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xichen Li

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  1. Cheng Sun
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Correspondence to Cheng Sun.

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Sun, C., Liu, Y., Xue, J. et al. The importance of inter‐basin atmospheric teleconnection in the SST footprint of Atlantic multidecadal oscillation over western Pacific. Clim Dyn 57, 239–252 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-05705-z

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