Pacific and Atlantic multidecadal variability relations to the El Niño events and their effects on the South American rainfall

Abstract

AbstractThis paper examines the oceanic mean states associated with the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) and their relations to the El Niño (EN). The mean states refer to the simultaneous occurrences of warm (W) and cold (C) phases of these oscillations: WAMO/CPDO, CAMO/WPDO and CAMO/CPDO. In general, the sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly patterns of the mean states show a combination of the PDO and AMO related anomaly patterns in the Pacific Ocean, and the strongest AMO‐related anomaly signals in the Atlantic Ocean with almost antisymmetric SST anomaly patterns in the northern and southern extratropical sectors of this Ocean. One of the most important results of this paper concerns the contrasting features between the CAMO/WPDO and the WAMO/CPDO mean states, which are noticeable for the SST, zonal circulation cell and precipitation during the austral autumn. Besides the opposite inter‐basin equatorial Atlantic/eastern equatorial Pacific cells, the CAMO/WPDO and WAMO/CPDO mean states also feature, respectively, a weakened and strengthened Walker cell in the tropical Pacific during the austral autumn. The results here indicate that the inter‐basin east–west cell between the equatorial Atlantic and eastern Pacific contributes to strengthen (weaken) the Walker cell during the austral autumn of the WAMO/CPDO (CAMO/WPDO) mean state. We also found that the mean states alter the EN features. The EN‐related largest positive SST anomalies occur in the central tropical Pacific during the WAMO/CPDO, and in the eastern tropical Pacific during the CAMO/WPDO. The Atlantic and Pacific oceanic mean states play an important role in modulating the EN features and their effects on the South American rainfall. The results presented in this paper might be relevant for climate monitoring and modelling studies.