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Why does the IOD-ENSO teleconnection disappear in some decades?

  • Physics
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Abstract

Lag correlations between sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (STIO) in fall and Niño 3.4 SSTA in the eastern equatorial Pacific in the following fall are subjected to decadal variation, with positive correlations during some decades and negative correlations during others. Negative correlations are smaller and of shorter duration than positive correlations. Variations in lag correlations suggest that the use of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) as a predictor of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at a lead time of one year is not effective during some decades. In this study, lag correlations between IOD and ENSO anomalies were analyzed to investigate why the IOD-ENSO teleconnection disappears during decades with negative correlations. Anomalies induced by the IOD in the equatorial Pacific Ocean during decades with negative correlations are still present, but at a greater depth than in decades with positive correlations, resulting in a lack of response to oceanic channel dynamics in the cold tongue SSTA. Lag correlations between oceanic anomalies in the west Pacific warm pool in fall and the equatorial Pacific cold tongue with a one-year time lag are significantly positive during decades with negative correlations. These results suggest that oceanic channel dynamics are overwhelmed by ocean-atmosphere coupling over the equatorial Pacific Ocean during decades with negative correlations. Therefore, the Indonesian throughflow is not effective as a link between IOD signals and the equatorial Pacific ENSO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Tengfei Xu  (徐腾飞) & Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮)

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

    Tengfei Xu  (徐腾飞)

  3. Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮)

  4. First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Tengfei Xu  (徐腾飞)

Authors
  1. Tengfei Xu  (徐腾飞)
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  2. Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮).

Additional information

Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Nos. 2012CB956000, 2011CB403502), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41176019), the China Meteorological Administration (No. GYHY201306018), and the Strategic Priority Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA11010301)

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Xu, T., Yuan, D. Why does the IOD-ENSO teleconnection disappear in some decades?. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 33, 534–544 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-015-4044-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-015-4044-7

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