Interannual Variability of Sea Surface Temperature in the Northern Indian Ocean Associated with ENSO and IOD

Abstract

AbstractThe Northern Indian Ocean (NIO) sea surface temperature (SST) warming, associated with the El Nino/Southern Oscillations (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) mode, is investigated using the International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) monthly data for the period 1979-2010. Statistical analyses are used to identify respective contribution from ENSO and IOD. The results indicate that the first NIO SST warming in September-November is associated with an IOD event, while the second NIO SST warming in spring-summer following the mature phase of ENSO is associated with an ENSO event. In the year that IOD co-occurred with ENSO, NIO SST warms twice, rising in the ENSO developing year and decay year. Both short-wave radiation and latent heat flux contribute to the NIO SST variation. The change in shortwave radiation is due to the change in cloudiness. A cloud-SST feedback plays an important role in NIO SST warming. The latent heat flux is related to the change in monsoonal wind. In th...