Earth Rotation and El Nino—Theory of Waves

Abstract

AbstractConsidering the variation of the earth's rotation rate with time and applying the equations of shallow‐water model to the geo‐fluids (atmosphere and ocean) in low latitudes, the influences of variation the earth's rotation rate on the atmospheric and oceanic waves are analyzed. It is shown that the variation of the earth's rotation rate affects directly not only the variation of zonal wind and oceanic current, but also the anomaly of sea level and sea surface temperature by the propagation of Kelvin waves and hence can promote the occurrence of the El Nino event. Therefore, the variation of the earth's rotation rate is a significant factor in global climate variability.