Interactions between ENSO, Transient Circulation, and Tropical Convectionover the Pacific

Abstract

Abstract The interannual variability of transient waves and convection over the central and eastern Pacific is examined using 30 northern winters of NCEP–NCAR reanalyses (1968/69–1997/98) and satellite outgoing longwave radiation data starting in 1974. There is a clear signal associated with the El Nino–Southern Oscillation, such that differences in the seasonal-mean basic state lead to statistically significant changes in the behavior of the transients and convection (with periods less than 30 days), which then feed back onto the basic state. During a warm event (El Nino phase), the Northern Hemisphere subtropical jet is strengthened over the central Pacific; the region of upper-tropospheric mean easterlies over the tropical western Pacific expands eastward past the date line, and the upper-tropospheric mean “westerly duct” over the tropical eastern Pacific is weakened. The transients tend to propagate along the almost continuous waveguide of the subtropical jet; equatorward propagation into the westerly...