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Simulation of two types of El Niño from different convective parameters

Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences volume 49, pages 193–199 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Many recent studies have reported the presence of two types of El Niño events in observation: Cold Tongue (CT) El Niño and Warm Pool (WP) El Niño. We investigate the sensitivity of a model simulating two types of El Niño by changing a convective triggering parameter (Tokioka parameter). When deep convections are highly suppressed with a large Tokioka parameter, the model is capable of simulating distinct two-types of El Niño. However, the model has a problem in simulating two-types of El Niño distinctively when the Tokioka parameter is small, because the location of the maximum precipitation anomaly related to the CT El Niño is significantly shifted westward, leading to an atmospheric response pattern similar to that of the WP El Niño. Our results suggest that the mean precipitation over the eastern equatorial Pacific and the resultant zonal distribution in atmospheric feedback associated with ENSO can be one of the crucial factors for simulating two-types of El Niño.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Ansan, Korea

    Yeon-Soo Jang, Young-Ho Kim & Jong-Seong Kug

  2. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA

    Daehyun Kim

  3. Department of Atmospheric Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Dong-Hoon Kim

  4. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan

    Masahiro Watanabe

  5. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Manoa, Honolulu, USA

    Fei-Fei Jin

  6. Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, 787 Haeanro, Ansan, 426-744, Korea

    Jong-Seong Kug

Authors
  1. Yeon-Soo Jang
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  2. Daehyun Kim
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  3. Young-Ho Kim
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  4. Dong-Hoon Kim
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  5. Masahiro Watanabe
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  6. Fei-Fei Jin
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  7. Jong-Seong Kug
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Correspondence to Jong-Seong Kug.

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Jang, YS., Kim, D., Kim, YH. et al. Simulation of two types of El Niño from different convective parameters. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 49, 193–199 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-013-0020-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-013-0020-3

Key words

  • El Niño
  • climate model
  • two types of El Niño
  • convective parameterization
  • eastern Pacific precipitation