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Sea surface temperature in the north tropical Atlantic as a trigger for El Niño/Southern Oscillation events

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 112–116 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

El Niño events, the warm phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), are known to affect other tropical ocean basins through teleconnections. Conversely, mounting evidence suggests that temperature variability in the Atlantic Ocean may also influence ENSO variability1,2,3,4,5. Here we use reanalysis data and general circulation models to show that sea surface temperature anomalies in the north tropical Atlantic during the boreal spring can serve as a trigger for ENSO events. We identify a subtropical teleconnection in which spring warming in the north tropical Atlantic can induce a low-level cyclonic atmospheric flow over the eastern Pacific Ocean that in turn produces a low-level anticyclonic flow over the western Pacific during the following months. This flow generates easterly winds over the western equatorial Pacific that cool the equatorial Pacific and may trigger a La Niña event the following winter. In addition, El Niño events led by cold anomalies in the north tropical Atlantic tend to be warm-pool El Niño events, with a centre of action located in the central Pacific6,7, rather than canonical El Niño events. We suggest that the identification of temperature anomalies in the north tropical Atlantic could help to forecast the development of different types of El Niño event.

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Figure 1: Regression with respect to NTA SST.
Figure 2: Two pathways for relaying Atlantic signals to the Pacific.
Figure 3: Evolution of the oceanic variables with respect to NTA SST.
Figure 4: The impact of the NTA SST in the idealized experiment using a CGCM.

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Change history

  • 17 January 2013

    In the PDF and HTML versions of this Letter originally published, the coordinates '90° –20° E' on the first page should have read '90° W–20° E'. This has been corrected.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (Grant NRF-2009-C1AAA001-2009-0093042) funded by the Korean government (MEST), and KIOST (PE98801). F.F.J. was supported by US NSF grant ATM1034798, US Department of Energy grant DESC005110 and US NOAA grant NA10OAR4310200.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA

    Yoo-Geun Ham

  2. Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research Studies and Investigations, Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, Maryland 21044, USA

    Yoo-Geun Ham

  3. Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Ansan 426-744, Korea

    Jong-Seong Kug & Jong-Yeon Park

  4. Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822, USA

    Fei-Fei Jin

Authors
  1. Yoo-Geun Ham
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Contributions

Y-G.H., J-S.K. and F-F.J. designed the research and wrote the paper. Y-G.H. and J-Y.P. performed the experiments and analysed the data. All of the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jong-Seong Kug.

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Ham, YG., Kug, JS., Park, JY. et al. Sea surface temperature in the north tropical Atlantic as a trigger for El Niño/Southern Oscillation events. Nature Geosci 6, 112–116 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1686

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