Impacts of the Indian Ocean on the ENSO cycle

Abstract

This study examines the impacts of the Indian Ocean on the ENSO (El Niño‐Southern Oscillation) cycle by performing experiments with a coupled atmosphere‐ocean general circulation model (CGCM). In one of the experiments, the ocean model domain includes only the tropical Pacific Ocean (the Pacific Run). In the other experiment, the ocean model domain includes both the Indian and tropical Pacific Oceans (the Indo‐Pacific Run). The experiment results show that the CGCM simulation of ENSO including both the Indian and tropical Pacific Oceans tends to be more realistic than that including the tropical Pacific Ocean only. In particular, the Indo‐Pacific Run produces ENSO events with larger amplitude and greater variability on decadal time scales. The interactive Indian Ocean also affects the surface heat flux anomalies in the Indian Ocean during the ENSO cycle and surface wind stress anomalies in both the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. There are indications that both surface heat flux and wind stress are actively forcing a portion of the interannual variability in the Indian Ocean during the ENSO cycle.