Influence of climate variability on sea level rise and its teleconnection with sea surface temperature anomalies over the Indo‐Pacific Ocean

Abstract

AbstractRising sea levels pose a potential threat to the low‐lying regions for the countries that surround the Indo‐Pacific belt. Changes in sea level and its variability are intrinsically connected with sea surface temperature (SST) variations and associated wind field patterns in the Indo‐Pacific Ocean (IPO). SST‐based climate variability modes such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) tend to influence the sea level variability over the IPO significantly. The impact of climate variability modes on SLA, SST, and wind speed is examined by using regression analysis. The study considered two different datasets, namely the AVISO SLA and reconstructed SSHA from 1993 to 2019 and 1952 to 2009, respectively. SLA and SST both exhibit a decreasing trend from 1997 to 2007 year‐round; however, by the next decade (2008–2018), an overall increasing trend is evident in both parameters throughout the year. The influence of independent ENSO after removing the PDO signal (ENSO|PDO) on SLA and SST exhibits statistically significant increases over the eastern PO, western tropical IO, but decreases over the AS, eastern IO, and western PO during DJF. SLA response to IOD removing ENSO (IOD|ENSO) during SON includes increases over western to central tropical IO, and decreases over the AS extending up to eastern IO. Lastly, for the PDO influence in DJF, statistically significant increases in SLA are evident over the north PO extending up to eastern PO; however, PDO|ENSO influence over SLA exhibits similar but significantly reduced amplitudes. Composite analysis of different phase combinations of PDO (IOD) with El Niño (La Niña) exhibits stronger (weaker) influences during DJF (SON) season.