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Role of tropical atlantic SST variability as a modulator of El Niño teleconnections

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Abstract

The present study suggests that the off-equatorial North Atlantic (NATL) SST warming plays a significant role in modulating El Niño teleconnection and its impact on the North Atlantic and European regions. The El Niño events accompanied by NATL SST warming exhibit south-north dipole pattern over the Western Europe to Atlantic, while the ENSO teleconnection pattern without NATL warming exhibits a Rossby wave-like pattern confined over the North Pacific and western Atlantic. Especially, the El Niño events with NATL warming show positive (negative) geopotential-height anomalies over the North Atlantic (Western Europe) which resemble the negative phase of the NAO. Consistently, it is shown using a simple statistical model that NATL SSTA in addition to the tropical Pacific SSTA leads to better prediction on regional climate variation over the North Atlantic and European regions. This role of NATL SST on ENSO teleconnection is also validated and discussed in a long term simulation of coupled global circulation model (CGCM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea

    Yoo-Geun Ham

  2. Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, Korea

    Mi-Kyung Sung

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

    Soon-Il An

  4. GSFC Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

    Siegfried D. Schubert

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

    Jong-Seong Kug

  6. Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, 787 Haean-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, 426-744, Korea

    Jong-Seong Kug

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  1. Yoo-Geun Ham
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Ham, YG., Sung, MK., An, SI. et al. Role of tropical atlantic SST variability as a modulator of El Niño teleconnections. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 50, 247–261 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-014-0013-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-014-0013-x

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