Decadal changes in the central tropical Pacific teleconnection to the Southern Hemisphere extratropics

Abstract

Decadal changes in the teleconnection between the central tropical Pacific and the Southern Hemisphere extratropics are studied using the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data. Concurrent and lagged relationships show that teleconnection strength in austral spring was weak (strong) before (after) 1996/1997. This decadal change coincides in time with the climate regime shift in the Pacific in the 1990s known from many studies. We show that, after the regime shift, the concurrent and delayed teleconnection with the Southern Hemisphere extratropics is insignificant in September and abruptly increases in October. Penetration of the stratospheric anomaly into the troposphere in October can indicate interacting tropospheric and stratospheric pathways of the teleconnection to strongly enhance the central tropical Pacific impact since the late 1990s. The results give evidence that the Southern Annular Mode seems to be connecting element between the two pathways in the recent decades. The common tendencies in the eastward shift of the tropical anomalies and zonal wave 1 phase in the Antarctic stratosphere in austral spring have been demonstrated. The difference between the central Pacific and eastern Pacific teleconnections is consistent with that known from previous studies and new tendencies in their decadal changes and delayed effects have been revealed. It has been found that the central Pacific contributions to the Pacific decadal oscillation and to the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere have also increased significantly after the 1990s. This characterizes the central tropical Pacific as one of the key regions impacting climate and teleconnection not only in the Southern Hemisphere, but also in the Northern Hemisphere. Our findings are consistent with and further develop the recent studies of the stratosphere–troposphere coupling in austral spring, and emphasize significant contribution of the delayed tropical signals to the climate variability in austral spring in both hemispheres.