Feedback of tropical cyclones on El Niño diversity
- 1Key Laboratory of Mesoscale Severe Weather/Ministry of Education and School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China (wangqy@nju.edu.cn)
- 2Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System (FDOMES)/Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography/Institute for Advanced Ocean Studies, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China (ljp@ouc.edu.cn)
- 3Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Climate, Pilot Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China (ljp@ouc.edu.cn)
- 4Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA (ljp@ouc.edu.cn)
Understanding of the El Niño phenomenon is improving and several studies have considered the dynamics of El Niño diversity, however, the important role of tropical cyclones has not been reported. Here we show a clear influence of tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific on the spatial pattern of El Niño: By changing the Walker circulation and equatorial thermocline, strong (weak) accumulated cyclone energy helps to shift the center of strongest sea surface temperature anomalies three months later to the equatorial eastern (central) Pacific. The greater number of central-Pacific El Niño events after 1999/2000 may be associated with weaker accumulated cyclone energy in this period. A modified physically based empirical model (ACE+SST model) for predicting El Niño spatial patterns is constructed that captures well the spatiotemporal characteristics of El Niño events. Taking into account the key influence of western North Pacific tropical cyclones on El Niño diversity will improve our understanding and prediction of El Niño.
How to cite: Wang, Q. and Li, J.: Feedback of tropical cyclones on El Niño diversity, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7760, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7760, 2022.
