Otis intensification and its relationship to El Niño and Climate Change in the eastern Pacific Ocean

In this study, we identify regions across the Mexican Pacific waters where the high-frequency variability of daily sea surface temperature (SST) is diminishing and those in which the warm upper-layer thickness increases, analyzing changes in the upper layers' thermal structure along the tropical Pacific Ocean and their relationship with the variability of the upper-layer thickness in the so-called Warm Pool of the Mexican Pacific. Our results reveal a clear, direct relationship between the thickness increase of the warm, upper-ocean layer and the reduction of the high-frequency SST variability, which are related to the long-term trend of SST and ENSO variability. The implications are enormous since extreme positive SST anomalies and increasing warm, upper-layer thickness are optimal oceanic conditions for forthcoming hurricane development and intensification.