Relationships of interannual variability between the equatorial pacific and tropical Indian Ocean in 17 CMIP5 models

Abstract

Seventeen coupled general circulation models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) are employed to assess the relationships of interannual variations of sea surface temperature (SST) between the tropical Pacific (TP) and tropical Indian Ocean (TIO). The eastern/central equatorial Pacific features the strongest SST interannual variability in the models except for the model CSIRO-Mk3-6-0, and the simulated maximum and minimum are produced by models GFDL-ESM2M and GISS-E2-H respectively. However, It remains a challenge for these models to simulate the correct climate mean SST with the warm pool-cold tongue structure in the equatorial Pacific. Almost all models reproduce El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole mode (IOD) and Indian Ocean Basin-wide mode (IOB) together with their seasonal phase lock features being simulated; but the relationship between the ENSO and IOD is different for different models. Consistent with the observation, an Indian Ocean basin-wide warming (cooling) takes place over the tropical Indian Ocean in the spring following an El Niño (La Niña) in almost all the models. In some models (e.g., GFDL-ESM2G and MIROC5), positive ENSO and IOB events are stronger than the negative events as shown in the observation. However, this asymmetry is reversed in some other models (e.g., HadGEM2-CC and HadGEM2-ES).