Central Pacific Type Research Articles

Quasi-3-yr Cycle of Rainy Season Precipitation in Tibet Related to Different Types of ENSO during 1981–2015

The rainy season precipitation in Tibet (RSPT) is a direct cause for local floods/droughts. It also indirectly affects the thermal conditions of the Tibetan Plateau, which can result in anomalous patterns of atmospheric circulation over East Asia. The interannual variability of the RSPT is often linked with the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), but the relevant mechanisms are far from being understood, particularly for different types of ENSO events. We investigated the interannual variation of the RSPT in association with different types of ENSO. A quasi-3-yr period of the RSPT (less–more–more precipitation) was significant at the 95% confidence level. A joint multi-taper method with singular value decomposition analysis of the coupled field between the RSPT and the sea surface temperature (SST) revealed that the developing eastern Pacific type El Nino was accompanied by a decrease in the RSPT. The shift from the central Pacific type El Nino to the eastern Pacific La Nina was accompanied by an increase in the RSPT. Weakening of the central Pacific La Nina was accompanied by an increase in the RSPT. Analysis of the mechanism of this coupling, using the same analysis method but other climatic factors, indicated that the gradually strengthening eastern Pacific El Nino can inhibit the Walker circulation, weakening the South Asian summer monsoon, and resulting in transport of less water vapor from the Bay of Bengal to Tibet. The change from the central Pacific El Nino to the eastern Pacific La Nina led to continued strengthening of the Walker circulation with westward movement of the ascending area. This enhanced the South Asian summer monsoon over the Arabian Sea and transported more water vapor to Tibet. The decreasing central Pacific La Nina accompanied by persistent cooling of SSTs in the equatorial Pacific led to a strong eastern North Pacific summer monsoon, causing an anomaly in the easterly transport of water vapor from the Sea of Japan to Tibet and increased RSPT.

Effects of seasonal and interannual events on satellite-derived phytoplankton biomass and production in the southernmost part of the California Current System during 2003–2016

We characterized the spatial and temporal variations of sea surface temperature (SST), satellite-derived chlorophyll a (Chlsat) con-centration, and phytoplankton production (PP) along two 300-km long transects in the southernmost part of the California Current System, one off Cabo San Lázaro (TCSLa) and the other off Cabo San Lucas (TCSLu). Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Aqua-MODIS) SST and Chlsat monthly composites and PP monthly composites were used for the 2003–2016 period. An “average year” was generated for each transect and each variable, as an approximation to the climatology. The Chlsat and PP values were higher in the inshore area than in the offshore area: 4.0 mg·m–3 and 4.5 g C·m–2·d–1, respectively, for the inshore area of TCSLa and 1.4 mg·m–3 and 1.8 g C·m–2·d–1, respectively, for the inshore area of TCSLu; ~0.1 mg·m–3 and 0.4 g C·m–2·d–1, respectively, for the offshore area of both transects. In general, SST showed minimum values (~17.0 ºC) in the inshore area and maximum values (~29.4 ºC) in the offshore area. Chlsat values in the coastal zone were higher on TCSLa than on TCSLu, but offshore Chlsat values were often higher on TCSLu than on TCSLa. Seasonal and interannual variations were observed on both transects, but the seasonal variations were dominant. The effects of “the Blob” in 2014 and of the 2015–2016 eastern Pacific type of El Niño were similarly strong off both capes but caused no collapse in phytoplankton biomass, which decreased to only approximately half the values for the non-El Niño years. The 2003 and 2010 central Pacific type of El Niño events also had strong impacts. The 2005 central Pacific type of El Niño had a strong impact on the biology of TCSLu, like the impact of the 2014 and 2015–2016 events, but not on the biology of TCSLa. The coastal dynamics in the California Current System show spatial variations; thus, seasonal and interannual events have different effects at different geographic locations.

Effect of boreal spring precipitation anomaly pattern change in the late 1990s over tropical Pacific on the atmospheric teleconnection

Observational evidence showed that the leading mode of precipitation variability over the tropical Pacific during boreal spring experienced a pronounced interdecadal change around the late 1990s, characterized by a precipitation pattern shift from an eastern Pacific (EP) type to a central Pacific (CP) type. The distinct impacts of such a precipitation pattern shift on the extratropical atmospheric teleconnection were examined. An apparent poleward teleconnection extending from the tropics to the North Atlantic region was observed after 1998, while, there was no significant teleconnection before 1998. To understand why only the CP–type precipitation mode is associated with a striking atmospheric teleconnection after 1998, diagnostic analyses with the Eliassen–Palm flux and Rossby wave source (RWS) based on the barotropic vorticity equation were performed. The results show that for the EP–type precipitation mode, no significant RWS anomalies appeared over the subtropical Pacific due to the opposite effect of the vortex stretching and absolute vorticity advection processes. For the CP–type precipitation mode, however, there are both significant vorticity forcing source over the subtropical CP and clear poleward–propagation of Rossby wave. The spatial distribution of the CP–type precipitation pattern tends to excite a conspicuous anomalous southerly and a well–organized negative vorticity center over the subtropical CP where both the mean absolute vorticity gradient and mean divergence flow are large, hence, the interaction between the heating–induced anomalous circulation and the basic state made the generation of Rossby waves conceivable and effective. Such corresponding teleconnection responses to the prescribed heating were also examined by using a Linear Baroclinic Model (LBM). It turned out that significant poleward teleconnection pattern is only caused by the CP–type precipitation mode, rather than by the EP–type precipitation mode. Further sensitive experiments demonstrated that the change in spring basic state before and after 1998 played a relatively minor role in exciting such a teleconnection pattern, when compared with the tropical precipitation anomaly pattern change.

On the Surface Independent Signals Within the ENSO Events

By analyzing the two types of El Nino Southern-Oscillation (ENSO) indices, i.e., the Central Pacific (CP) type index and the Eastern Pacific (EP) type index by Ren and Jin (2011), this study finds that the low correlation between the two types of indices by some previous studies should be reconsidered. Then based on previous ideas of the unified Nino index systems, the new ocean surface regions for the CP and EP El Nino indices’ calculation are defined. The features of the new CP and EP El Nino indices are consistent with sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) evolution along the Pacific equator. This study suggests that, concerning the El Nino characteristics, the CP and EP El Nino indices are not necessarily independent of each other; but their differences are almost absolutely independent of the unified Nino region SSTA. The results quantitatively confirm the relationship between the Trans-Nino Index (TNI) and Nino 3.4 indices (which are nearly independent of each other and provide different flavors for each El Nino event). Results presented here contribute to a better understanding of the nature of the El Nino events.

Satellite-derived phytoplankton biomass and production variability in 2 contrasting coastal areas: off southern California and off northern Baja California

In order to compare phytoplankton biomass (satellite-derived chlorophyll, Chlsat) and production (PP), and sea surface temperature (SST) between the regions north and south of the Ensenada Front, time series were generated from satellite imagery for 250-km transects perpendicular to the coast: one off La Jolla (TLJ), southern California (USA), and the other off San Quintín Bay (TSQB), Baja California (Mexico). Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) SST and Chlsat monthly composites and PP monthly composites were used for the 2002–2016 period. An “average year” was generated for each transect and each variable as an approximation to the climatology. Data show spatial variation in Chlsat and PP with higher values in the coastal zone (>10.0 mg·m–3 and >4.0 g C·m–2·d–1, respectively) than offshore (~0.1 mg·m–3 and 0.4 g C·m–2·d–1, respectively), while SST showed, in general, minimum values in the coastal zone (~15.0 ºC) and maxima offshore (~21.0 ºC). In the coastal zone, Chlsat values were higher on TSQB than on TLJ. However, sometimes phytoplankton biomass was higher in the offshore waters of TLJ than in the offshore waters of TSQB because of the effect of high Chlsat plumes coming from Point Conception into the Southern California Bight. The SST, Chlsat, and PP variations had clear seasonal and interannual components. Spectral analysis shows that the seasonal component of variation was dominant for the 3 variables. The 2004 central Pacific type of El Niño, the 2014 “Blob”, and the 2015–2016 eastern Pacific type of El Niño had very strong effects on phytoplankton biomass and production along both transects. Nevertheless, the effects generally tended to be stronger at TLJ than at TSQB. There are spatial variations in the coastal dynamics of the California Current System, and thus the effects of seasonal and interannual events will not be the same at different geographic locations.

Predictability of two types of El Niño and their climate impacts in boreal spring to summer in coupled models

The predictability of the two El Nino types and their different impacts on the East Asian climate from boreal spring to summer have been studied, based on coupled general circulation models (CGCM) simulations from the APEC Climate Center (APCC) multi-model ensemble (MME) hindcast experiments. It was found that both the spatial pattern and temporal persistence of canonical (eastern Pacific type) El Nino sea surface temperature (SST) are much better simulated than those for El Nino Modoki (central Pacific type). In particular, most models tend to have El Nino Modoki events that decay too quickly, in comparison to those observed. The ability of these models in distinguishing between the two types of ENSO has also been assessed. Based on the MME average, the two ENSO types become less and less differentiated in the model environment as the forecast leadtime increases. Regarding the climate impact of ENSO, in spring during canonical El Nino, coupled models can reasonably capture the anomalous low-level anticyclone over the western north Pacific (WNP)/Philippine Sea area, as well as rainfall over coastal East Asia. However, most models have difficulties in predicting the springtime dry signal over Indochina to South China Sea (SCS) when El Nino Modoki occurs. This is related to the location of the simulated anomalous anticyclone in this region, which is displaced eastward over SCS relative to the observed. In boreal summer, coupled models still exhibit some skills in predicting the East Asian rainfall during canonical El Nino, but not for El Nino Modoki. Overall, models’ performance in spring to summer precipitation forecasts is dictated by their ability in capturing the low-level anticyclonic feature over the WNP/SCS area. The latter in turn is likely to be affected by the realism of the time mean monsoon circulation in models.

Oceanic processes of upper ocean heat content associated with two types of ENSO

The spatiotemporal variability of equatorial Pacific upper ocean heat content (HC) and subsurface heat during two types of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), namely eastern and central Pacific (EP and CP) types, is investigated using subsurface ocean heat budget analysis. Results show that HC tendencies during both types of ENSO are mainly controlled by oceanic heat advection beneath the mixed layer to the thermocline, and the role of net surface heat flux can be neglected. The most important three terms are the zonal and vertical advections of anomalous heat by climatological currents (QU 0 T′, QW 0 T′) and zonal advection of climatological heat by anomalous current (QU′T 0). The large contribution of QU 0 T′ extends from west to east along the equatorial Pacific. The considerable contribution of QU′T 0 is confined to the east of 160°W, and that of the QW 0 T′ is observed in the central Pacific between 180°E and 120°W. In particular, a major contribution of QW 0 T′ is also observed in the far eastern Pacific east of 100°W during EP ENSO. There is also a small contribution from meridional advection of climatological heat by anomalous current (QV′T 0). In contrast, the meridional advection of anomalous heat by climatological currents (QV 0 T′) and vertical advection of climatological heat by anomalous current (QW′T 0) are two damping factors in the HC tendency, with the former dominating. Differences in spatial distribution of the heat advection associated with the two types of ENSO are also presented. We define a warm water heat index (WWH) as integrated heat content above 26 kg m−3 potential density (26σ ɵ ) isopycnal depth within 130°E–80°W and 5°S–5°N. Further examination suggests that the recharge–discharge of WWH is involved in both types of El Nino, though with some differences. First, it takes about 42 (55) months for the evolution of a recharge–discharge cycle during an EP (CP) ENSO. Second, the EP El Nino event peaks during the discharge phase, 7–8 months after the recharge time. The CP El Nino peaks during the recharge phase, 4–5 months before the recharge time. The locations of HC anomalies in the El Nino mature phase relative to those at recharged time explain why the EP and CP El Nino peak in different stages of the recharge–discharge process.

Modulation of the MJO intensity over the equatorial western Pacific by two types of El Niño

The modulation of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) intensity by eastern Pacific (EP) type and central Pacific (CP) type of El Nino was investigated using observed data during the period of 1979–2013. MJO intensity is weakened (strengthened) over the equatorial western Pacific from November to April during EP (CP) El Nino. The difference arises from distinctive tendencies of column-integrated moist static energy (MSE) anomaly in the region. A larger positive MSE tendency was found during the convection developing period in the CP MJO than the EP MJO. The tendency difference is mainly caused by three meridional moisture advection processes: the advection of the background moisture by the intraseasonal wind anomaly, the advection of intraseasonal moisture anomaly by the mean wind and the nonlinear eddy advection. The advections’ differences are primarily caused by different intraseasonal perturbations and high-frequency activity whereas the background flow and moisture gradient are similar. The amplitudes in the intraseasonal suppressed convection anomaly over the central Pacific is critical in modulating the three meridional moisture advection processes. The influences on the central Pacific convection anomaly from seasonal mean moisture in two types of El Ninos are discussed.

A seasonal prediction for the wet–cold spells leading to winter crop damage in northwestern Taiwan with a combined empirical–dynamical approach

ABSTRACTWinter crop losses from extreme weather in Taiwan have increased in the recent decade, with those losses associated with pronounced wet‐and‐cold events (temperature < 10 °C and precipitation >5 mm day−1). The regional and global patterns of atmospheric circulation and the sea surface temperature (SST) related to the extreme cold that damages fruits, vegetables, and paddy rice in northwest Taiwan were investigated. Cool SST anomalies in the western North Pacific (WNP) and warm SST in the central‐eastern Pacific associated with the Pacific meridional mode (PMM) shared a significant role in the occurrence of wet‐and‐cold events in northwest Taiwan. The interactions of the WNP/PMM with the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and the Central Pacific type of El Niño led to a pronounced lead–lag relationship with the occurrence of wet‐and‐cold events. An empirical model was subsequently developed to predict the wet‐and‐cold event frequency using observed values of WNP, Niño‐3.4, and Arctic Oscillation from year‐1 and predicted indices of WNP and PMM derived from the Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) outputs. The predictive skill of this hybrid empirical–dynamical model was statistically significant throughout the 6 months leading up to the occurrence of wet‐and‐cold events.

Impact of El Niño Variability on Oceanic Phytoplankton

Oceanic phytoplankton respond rapidly to a complex spectrum of climate-driven perturbations, confounding attempts to isolate the principal causes of observed changes. A dominant mode of variability in the Earth-climate system is that generated by the El Nino phenomenon. Marked variations are observed in the centroid of anomalous warming in the Equatorial Pacific under El Nino, associated with quite different alterations in environmental and biological properties. Here, using observational and reanalysis datasets, we differentiate the regional physical forcing mechanisms, and compile a global atlas of associated impacts on oceanic phytoplankton caused by two extreme types of El Nino. We find robust evidence that during Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) types of El Nino, impacts on phytoplankton can be felt everywhere, but tend to be greatest in the tropics and subtropics, encompassing up to 67% of the total affected areas, with the remaining 33% being areas located in high-latitudes. Our analysis also highlights considerable and sometimes opposing regional effects. During EP El Nino, we estimate decreases of -56 TgC/y in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, and -82 TgC/y in the western Indian Ocean, and increase of +13 TgC/y in eastern Indian Ocean, whereas during CP El Nino, we estimate decreases -68 TgC/y in the tropical western Pacific Ocean and -10 TgC/y in the central Atlantic Ocean. We advocate that analysis of the dominant mechanisms forcing the biophysical under El Nino variability may provide a useful guide to improve our understanding of projected changes in the marine ecosystem in a warming climate and support development of adaptation and mitigation plans.

Revisiting the relationship between the South Asian summer monsoon drought and El Niño warming pattern

AbstractBased on the observational and reanalysis data, El Niño warming patterns associated with the South Asian summer monsoon droughts are investigated. While the inverse relationship between the eastern Pacific (EP) type of El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian monsoon rainfall weakened significantly, the correlation between the central Pacific (CP) type of ENSO and the monsoon rainfall strengthened after the late 1970s. Moreover, the drought‐producing El Niño warming pattern also exhibits a notable decadal modulation associated with the climate shift. The analysis results indicate that both the EP type of El Niño with positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies extended to the date line and the CP type of El Niño with the maximum warming located in the central equatorial Pacific may produce severe droughts over the Indian subcontinent. Although the CP warming is more effective in driving anomalous rising motion in the central equatorial Pacific and consequently producing anomalous subsidence over South Asia, the position and strength of the anomalous ascending and descending branches of the Walker circulation are sensitive to the detailed distributions of tropical SST anomalies and determined by the competing effects of the CP and EP warming.

Distinct persistence barriers in two types of ENSO

AbstractEl Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is usually subject to a persistence barrier (PB) in boreal spring. This study quantifies the PB and then reveals its distinct features in the two types of ENSO, the eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) types. We suggest that the PB of ENSO can be measured by the maximum rate of autocorrelation decline of Niño sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) indices. Results show that the PB of ENSO generally occurs in boreal late spring to early summer in terms of Niño3.4 index, and the EP ENSO has the PB in late spring, while the CP type has the PB in summer. By defining an index to quantify PB intensity of ENSO, we find that the CP ENSO type features a much weaker PB, compared to the EP type, and the PB intensity of equatorial SSTAs is larger over the EP than the western Pacific and the far EP.

A climate network‐based index to discriminate different types of El Niño and La Niña

AbstractEl Niño exhibits distinct Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) types which are commonly, but not always consistently, distinguished from each other by different signatures in equatorial climate variability. Here we propose an index based on evolving climate networks to objectively discriminate between both flavors by utilizing a scalar‐valued measure that quantifies spatial localization and dispersion in global teleconnections of surface air temperature. Our index displays a sharp peak (high localization) during EP events, whereas during CP events (larger dispersion) it remains close to the values observed during normal periods. In contrast to previous classification schemes, our approach specifically accounts for El Niño's global impacts. We confirm recent El Niño classifications for the years 1951 to 2014 and assign types to those cases where former works yielded ambiguous results. Ultimately, we demonstrate that our index provides a similar discrimination of La Niña episodes into two distinct types.

A new method to classify ENSO events into eastern and central Pacific types

ABSTRACTIn order to clearly classify El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events into eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) types, we develop two new indices defined as pattern correlation coefficients (PCCs) between monthly sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (SSTAs) and first two leading empirical orthogonal function modes of tropical Pacific (20°S–20°N, 110°E–70°W) SSTAs. These new indices not only show close relationships with ENSO indices derived from several previous methods, but also demonstrate reasonable abilities to distinguish between two types of ENSO event. The major characteristic features of the EP‐type and CP‐type ENSO forcings are well captured from SST responses regressed onto each new index. Furthermore, the monthly frequencies of occurrences derived from two indices are quite similar to variation patterns of phase‐locking behaviours of two types of ENSO event.

Factors controlling the interannual variations of MJO intensity

The interannual variations of intensity of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) during boreal winter are investigated by using the observed outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and the reanalysis data of ECMWF and NCEP. The standard deviation of 20-80-day filtered OLR anomaly is used to measure the MJO intensity. The dominant spatial structure of the interannual variability is revealed by an EOF analysis of the MJO intensity field. It is found that the leading mode is associated with eastern Pacific type ENSO, whereas the second mode is related to central Pacific type ENSO. A simple atmospheric model is used to investigate the relative roles of background moisture and wind changes in affecting the overall strength of MJO. The numerical experiments indicate that the background moisture effect is dominant while the background wind change has a minor effect.

The influence of different El Niño types on the South American rainfall

ABSTRACTThe impacts of El Niño (EN) on the rainfall over South America are investigated considering three EN types differing in the locations of the maximum sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the equatorial Pacific: the Central‐Pacific (CP), Eastern‐Pacific (EP) and the Mixed (MIX) types. The largest positive (SST) anomalies for the EP and CP types occur, respectively, in the eastern and central sectors of the tropical Pacific during all seasons. The SST anomaly pattern for the MIX‐EN resembles that of the EP–EN during its onset stage, and of the CP–EN during its mature and demise stages. The different SST anomaly patterns affect the large‐scale (Walker circulation and the tropospheric Rossby‐wave trains) and local (South American low‐level jet – SALLJ) atmospheric circulation patterns in different ways and lead to distinct precipitation anomaly patterns over South America. Variations in the position and longitudinal extension of the downward motions of the EN‐related eastward‐displaced Walker circulation explain the differences in the dryness over equatorial South America. For the CP–EN, a double Walker cell defines a more zonal configuration of the equatorial dryness over South America during the first three analysed seasons. This feature is not noted for the other two EN types. The Rossby‐wave train pattern path depends on the EN types and seasons. In consequence, the associated local atmospheric circulation patterns depend also on the season and EN types. In all seasons, an intense SALLJ for the EP EN contrasts with weak or inexistence SALLJ for the other two EN types. Thus, a wetter condition over southeastern South America, southern and eastern Brazil occurs for the EP EN in relation to the other EN types. The results shown here, in particular considering the MIX EN type, have not been discussed before and might be useful mainly for climate monitoring purposes.

Multi-scale variation of the meridional movement of the western Pacific warm pool and its associated large-scale climate features

In this study, we investigated variation of the meridional movement of the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP). The variation was measured by the central latitude (Clat) of the WPWP on various time scales. Its relationships with global sea surface temperature (SST), precipitation, and atmospheric circulation were examined by applying several advanced statistical methods. First, the techniques of wavelet analysis and least-square adjustment were used to depict the time-frequency features and the mean dominant oscillating time scales of the Clat. Then, a multi-stage filtering technique was applied to illustrate the related dominant oscillating signals. We also examined the time-frequency characteristics of the relationships between Clat and the leading modes of the Indo-Pacific oceans by employing a cross-covariance function analysis and a multiple moving-window method. The physical mechanisms for the relationships between Clat and the patterns of SST, precipitation, and atmospheric circulation were discussed. Results indicated that there is a weakening trend in the oscillation of Clat mainly because the quasi-annual oscillation of Clat increases in January–March and decreases in July–September. The semi-annual oscillation of Clat closely interacts with the westerly wind over the summer hemisphere of the tropical western Pacific Ocean and with the easterly wind over the winter hemisphere of the ocean. The interannual component of Clat corresponds to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean basin-wide warming or cooling with strengthened oscillations in the 1970s, and the lower-frequency component of Clat closely corresponds to the central Pacific type of El Niño from the 1990s.

Mapping the locations of asymmetric and symmetric discharge responses in global rivers to the two types of El Niño

River discharge variations play a pivotal role in global water and biogeochemical cycles and can impact the world’s agro-economics. Here, variations associated with the Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific types of El Niño are contrasted for thirty of the world’s largest rivers. Maps are constructed to identify the rivers that produce opposite-sign (i.e., asymmetric response (AR)) or same-sign (i.e., symmetric response (SR)) variations to these two types of El Niño. The mapping shows that the strongest AR occurs in North American rivers whereas the strongest SR occurs in the Murray River in Eastern Australia and the Danube River in Central Europe. Rivers in Asia and Africa vary in their response patterns depending on the phase (developing, mature or decaying) of El Niño. The response patterns are linked to precipitation variations within the river basins. The mapping presented offers an overview of which rivers may need new projection techniques and management strategies in response to the changes in El Niño type during recent decades.

Evolution of the Madden–Julian Oscillation in Two Types of El Niño

Abstract Evolution characteristics of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) during the eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) types of El Niño have been investigated. MJO activities are strengthened over the western Pacific during the predeveloping and developing phases of EP El Niño, but suppressed during the mature and decaying phases. In contrast, MJO activities do not show a clear relationship with CP El Niño before their occurrence over the western Pacific, but they increase over the central Pacific during the mature and decaying phases of CP El Niño. Lag correlation analyses further confirm that MJO activities over the western Pacific in boreal spring and early summer are closely related to EP El Niño up to 2–11 months later, but not for CP El Niño. EP El Niño tends to weaken the MJO and lead to a much shorter range of its eastward propagation. Anomalous descending motions over the Maritime Continent and western Pacific related to El Niño can suppress convection and moisture flux convergence there and weaken MJO activities over these regions during the mature phase of both types of El Niño. MJO activities over the western Pacific are much weaker in EP El Niño due to the stronger anomalous descending motions. Furthermore, the MJO propagates more continuously and farther eastward during CP El Niño because of robust moisture convergence over the central Pacific, which provides adequate moisture for the development of MJO convection.

A classified El Niño index using AVHRR remote-sensing SST data

ABSTRACTA process-orientated El Niño index (PEI) is constructed to determine the detailed classification of two major types of El Niño events during 1985–2009 from remote-sensing monthly sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly data sets. Four revised Niño regions are defined in the tropical Pacific, and the index uses SST anomalies and their duration in each region. Based on their varying evolution, the index allows eastern Pacific (EP) El Niño events to be either weak or strong EP type, and central Pacific (CP) El Niño events to be either weak CP, strong CP, or mixed EPCP type. The El Niño types identified by this index are compared to those obtained using previously published methods, and the differences are examined and discussed. The results suggest that the PEI is optimal for monitoring El Niño events of weaker amplitude and shorter duration. The PEI is focused on the development process of El Niño events, providing a novel perspective for classifying El Niño types. Analysis of the SST evolution of the El Niño events identified here reveals several misclassifications in previous studies, stressing the disadvantage of relying solely on single areas or short time periods. Existing EP and CP El Niño events in the study period were reclassified by the PEI into weak, strong, and mixed events. The listing of El Niño types produced here can be used for selecting El Niño events for further study of their dynamics and climatic impacts.