Interactions between ENSO, Transient Circulation, and Tropical Convectionover the Pacific

Abstract

The interannual variability of transient waves and convection over the central and eastern Pacific is examined using 30 northern winters of NCEP?NCAR reanalyses (1968/69?1997/98) and satellite outgoing longwave radiation data starting in 1974. There is a clear signal associated with the El Niño?Southern Oscillation, such that differences in the seasonal-mean basic state lead to statistically significant changes in the behavior of the transients and convection (with periods less than 30 days), which then feed back onto the basic state. During a warm event (El Niño phase), the Northern Hemisphere subtropical jet is strengthened over the central Pacific; the region of upper-tropospheric mean easterlies over the tropical western Pacific expands eastward past the date line, and the upper-tropospheric mean ?westerly duct? over the tropical eastern Pacific is weakened. The transients tend to propagate along the almost continuous waveguide of the subtropical jet; equatorward propagation into the westerly duct is reduced. The transient convective events over the ITCZ typically observed to be associated with these equatorward-propagating waves are subsequently reduced both in number and magnitude, leading to a seasonal-mean net negative diabatic heating anomaly over the central Pacific from 10° to 20°N, which then feeds back onto the basic state. During a cold event (La Niña phase), the situation is reversed. The different propagation characteristics of the transients in El Niño and La Niña basic states are well simulated in initial value experiments with a primitive equation model.