Zonal displacement of western Pacific warm pool and zonal wind anomaly over the Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The thermal condition anomaly of the western Pacific warm pool and its zonal displacement have very important influences on climate change in East Asia and even the whole world. However, the impact of the zonal wind anomaly over the Pacific Ocean on zonal displacement of the warm pool has not yet been analyzed based on long-term record. Therefore, it is important to study the zonal displacement of the warm pool and its response to the zonal wind anomaly over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Based on the NCDC monthly averaged SST (sea surface temperature) data in 2°×2° grid in the Pacific Ocean from 1950 to 2000, and the NCEP/NCAR global monthly averaged 850 hPa zonal wind data from 1949 to 2000, the relationships between zonal displacements of the western Pacific warm pool and zonal wind anomalies over the tropical Pacific Ocean are analyzed in this paper. The results show that the zonal displacements are closely related to the zonal wind anomalies over the western, central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Composite analysis indicates that during ENSO events, the warm pool displacement was trigged by the zonal wind anomalies over the western equatorial Pacific Ocean in early stage and the process proceeded under the zonal wind anomalies over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean unless the wind direction changes. Therefore, in addition to the zonal wind anomaly over the western Pacific, the zonal wind anomalies over the central and eastern Pacific Ocean should be considered also in investigation the dynamical mechanisms of the zonal displacement of the warm pool.