Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dynamical diagnostics of the SST annual cycle in the eastern equatorial Pacific: Part II analysis of CMIP5 simulations

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, a simple coupled framework established in Part І is utilized to investigate inter-model diversity in simulating the equatorial Pacific SST annual cycle (SSTAC). It demonstrates that the simulated amplitude and phase characteristics of SSTAC in models are controlled by two internal dynamical factors (the damping rate and phase speed) and two external forcing factors (the strength of the annual and semi-annual harmonic forcing). These four diagnostic factors are further condensed into a dynamical response factor and a forcing factor to derive theoretical solutions of amplitude and phase of SSTAC. The theoretical solutions are in remarkable agreement with observations and CMIP5 simulations. The great diversity in the simulated SSTACs is related to the spreads in these dynamic and forcing factors. Most models tend to simulate a weak SSTAC, due to their weak damping rate and annual harmonic forcing. The latter is due to bias in the meridional asymmetry of the annual mean state of the tropical Pacific, represented by the weak cross-equatorial winds in the cold tongue region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • An S-I, Choi J (2009) Seasonal locking of the ENSO asymmetry and its influence on the seasonal cycle of the tropical eastern Pacific sea surface temperature. Atmos Res 94:3–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • An S-I, Choi J (2010) Interaction between equatorially symmetric and asymmetric tropical eastern Pacific SSTs. Theor Appl Climatol 102:151–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balmaseda MA, Vidard A, Anderson DL (2008) ECMWF ocean analysis system: ORA-S3. Mon Wea Rev 136:3018–3034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellenger H, Guilyardi E, Leloup J, Lengaigne M, Vialard J (2014) ENSO representation in climate models: from CMIP3 to CMIP5. Clim Dyn 42:1999–2018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang P, Philander SGH (1994) A coupled ocean-atmosphere instability of relevance to the seasonal cycle. J Atmos Sci 51:3627–3648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang P, Wang B, Li T, Ji L (1994) Interactions between the seasonal cycle and the Southern Oscillation-frequency entrainment and chaos in a coupled ocean–atmosphere model. Geophys Res Lett 21:2817–2820

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Szoeke SP, Xie S-P (2008) The tropical eastern Pacific seasonal cycle: assessment of errors and mechanisms in IPCC AR4 coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models. J Clim 21:2573–2590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delecluse P, Davey MK, Kitamura Y, Philander SGH, Suarez M, Bengtsson L (1998) Coupled general circulation modeling of the tropical Pacific. J Geophys Res 103:14357–14373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewitt DG, Schneider EK (1999) The processes determining the annual cycle of equatorial sea surface temperature: a coupled general circulation model perspective. Mon Weather Rev 127:381–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fedorov AV, Philander SG (2001) A stability analysis of tropical ocean–atmosphere interactions: bridging measurements and theory for El Niño. J Clim 14:3086–3101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu X-H, Wang B (2001) A coupled modeling study of the seasonal cycle of the Pacific cold tongue. Part I: simulation and sensitivity experiments. J Clim 14:765–779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giese BS, Carton JA (1994) The seasonal cycle in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. J Clim 7:1208–1217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gu D, Philander SG (1995) Secular changes of annual and interannual variability in the tropics during the past century. J Clim 8:864–876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson KJ, Hasler AF, Kornfield J, Suomi VE (1967) Photographic cloud climatology from ESSA III and V computer produced mosaics. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 48:878–883

    Google Scholar 

  • Hastenrath S, Lamb P (1978) On the dynamics and climatology of surface flow over the eastern oceans. Tellus 30:436–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horel JD (1982) On the annual cycle of the tropical Pacific atmosphere and ocean. Mon Wea Rev 110:1863–1878

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubert LF, Krueger AF, Winston JS (1969) The double intertropical convergence zone-fact or fiction. J Atmos Sci 26:771–773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin F-F (1996) Tropical ocean-atmosphere interaction, the pacific cold tongue, and the El Niño Southern oscillation. Science 274:76–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin F-F (1997) An equatorial ocean recharge paradigm for ENSO. Part I: conceptual model. J Atmos Sci 54:811–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin F-F, Neelin JD (1993) Modes of interannual tropical ocean-atmosphere interaction—a unified view. Part I: numerical results. J Atmos Sci 50:3477–3503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin F-F, Neelin JD, Ghil M (1994) El Niño on the devil’s staircase: annual and subharmonic steps to chaos. Science 264:70–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler WS, Rothstein LM, Chen D (1998) The annual cycle of SST in the eastern tropical Pacific, diagnosed in an ocean GCM. J Clim 11:777–799

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köberle C, Philander SGH (1994) On the processes that control seasonal variations of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Tellus 46A:481–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latif M, Sperber K, Arblaster J, Braconnot P, Chen D, Colman A, Cubasch U, Cooper C, Delecluse P, DeWitt D, Fairhead L, Flato G, Hogan T, Ji M, Kimoto M, Kitoh A, Knutson T, Le Treut H, Li T, Manabe S, Marti O, Mechoso C, Meehl G, Power S, Roeckner E, Sirven J, Terray L, Vintzileos A, Vob R, Wang B, Wasington W, Yoshikawa I, Yu JY, Zebiak SE (2001) ENSIP: the El Niño simulation intercomparison project. Clim Dyn 18:255–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li T, Hogan TF (1999) The role of the annual-mean climate on seasonal and interannual variability of the Tropical Pacific in a coupled GCM. J Clim 12:780–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li T, Philander SGH (1996) On the annual cycle of the eastern equatorial Pacific. J Clim 9:2986–2998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Xie SP (1994) Equatorward propagation of coupled air-sea disturbances with application to the annual cycle of the eastern tropical Pacific. J Atmos Sci 51:3807–3822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd J, Guilyardi E, Weller H, Slingo J (2009) The role of atmosphere feedbacks during ENSO in the CMIP3 models. Atmos Sci Lett 10:170–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manabe S, Hahn DG, Hollaway J (1974) The seasonal variation of tropical circulation as simulated by a global model of atmosphere. J Atmos Sci 32:43–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mechoso CR, Robertson AW, Barth N, Davey MK, Delecluse P, Gent PR, Ineson S, Kirtman BP, Latif M, Le Treut H, Nagai T, Neelin JD, Philander SGH, Polcher J, Schopf PS, Stockdale TN, Suarez MJ, Terray L, Thual O, Tribbia JJ (1995) The seasonal cycle over the tropical Pacific in coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation models. Mon Wea Rev 123:2825–2838

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell TP, Wallace JM (1992) The annual cycle in equatorial convection and sea-surface temperature. J Clim 5:1140–1156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nigam S, Chao Y (1996) Evolution dynamics of tropical ocean–atmosphere annual cycle variability. J Clim 9:3187–3205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okajima H, Xie SP, Numaguti A (2003) Interhemispheric coherence of tropical climate variability: effect of the climatological ITCZ. J Metab Soc Jpn 81(6):1371–1386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philander SGH, Seigel AD (1985) Simulation of El Niño of 1982–1983. In: Nihoul JCJ (ed) Coupled ocean-atmosphere models. Elsevier Oceanogr Ser 40:517–541

  • Philander SGH, Gu D, Halpern D, Lambert G, Lau NC, Li T, Pacanowski RC (1996) Why the ITCZ is mostly north of the equator. J Clim 9:2958–2972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stockdale TN, Busalacchi AJ, Harrison DE, Richard Seager (1998) Ocean modeling for ENSO. J Geophys Res 103:14325–14355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann A, Jin F-F, Collins M (2004) Intensification of the annual cycle in the tropical Pacific due to greenhouse warming. Geophys Res Lett 31:L12208. doi:10.1029/2004GL019442

    Google Scholar 

  • Tziperman E, Stone L, Cane MA, Jarosh H (1994) El Niño chaos: overlapping of resonances between the seasonal cycle and the Pacific Ocean-atmosphere oscillator. Science 263:72–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uppala SM, Kållberg PW, Simmons AJ et al (2005) The ERA-40 re-analysis. Q J R Meteorol Soc 131:2961–3012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyrtki K (1965) The annual and semiannual variation of sea surface temperature in the North Pacific Ocean. Limnol Oceanogr 10:307–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyrtki K, Meyers G (1976) The trade wind field over the Pacific ocean. J Appl Meteor 15:698–704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie SP (1994) On the genesis of the equatorial annual cycle. J Clim 7:2008–2013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie SP (1995) Interaction between the annual and interannual variations in the equatorial Pacific. J Phys Oceanogr 25:1930–1941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie SP (2004) The shape of continents, air-sea interaction, and the rising branch of the Hadley circulation. The Hadley circulation: present, past and future. In Diaz HF, Bradley RS (eds) Advances in global change research, vol 21. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 121–152

  • Xie SP, Philander SGH (1994) A coupled ocean–atmosphere model of relevance to the ITCZ in the eastern Pacific. Tellus 46A:340–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie SP, Saito K (2001) Formation and variability of a northerly ITCZ in a hybrid coupled AGCM: continental forcing and ocean-atmospheric feedback. J Clim 14:1262–1276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie SP, Miyama T, Wang Y, Xu H, de Szoeke S, Small R, Richards K, Mochizuki T, Awaji T (2007) A regional ocean–atmosphere model for Eastern Pacific climate: toward reducing tropical biases. J Clim 20:1504–1522

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by US NSF (Grant ATM1034798), US Department of Energy (Grant DESC005110), US NSF (Grant OCN-1304910), Special Fund of Strategic Leading Science and Technology from Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant XDA11010202), NSFC (Grant 41376022). The authors are grateful to the ESG-PCMDI for providing the CMIP5 historical simulations. The ECWMF ORA-S3 and ERA40 datasets were downloaded from Asia Pacific Data Research Center (APDRC) of International Pacific Research Center (IPRC).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Ying-Ying Chen

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

    Ying-Ying Chen

  3. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Ying-Ying Chen & Fei-Fei Jin

  4. Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

    Ying-Ying Chen

Authors
  1. Ying-Ying Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Fei-Fei Jin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fei-Fei Jin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, YY., Jin, FF. Dynamical diagnostics of the SST annual cycle in the eastern equatorial Pacific: Part II analysis of CMIP5 simulations. Clim Dyn 49, 3923–3936 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-3550-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-3550-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation