Testing the Trade Wind Charging Mechanism and Its Influence on ENSO Variability

Abstract

During the positive phase of the North Pacific Oscillation, westerly wind anomalies over the subtropical North Pacific substantially increase subsurface heat content along the equator by “trade wind charging” (TWC). TWC provides a direct pathway between extratropical atmospheric circulation and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) initiation. Previous model studies of this mechanism lacked the ocean–atmospheric coupling needed for ENSO growth, so it is crucial to examine whether TWC-induced heat content anomalies develop into ENSO events in a coupled model. Here, coupled model experiments, forced with TWC favorable (+TWC) or unfavorable (−TWC) wind stress, are used to examine the ENSO response to TWC. The forcing is imposed on the ocean component of the model through the first winter and then the model evolves in a fully coupled configuration through the following winter. The +TWC (−TWC) forcing consistently charges (discharges) the equatorial Pacific in spring and generates positive (negative) subsurface temperature anomalies. These subsurface temperature anomalies advect eastward and upward along the equatorial thermocline and emerge as like-signed sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the eastern Pacific, creating favorable conditions upon which coupled air–sea feedback can act. During the fully coupled stage, warm SST anomalies in +TWC forced simulations are amplified by coupled feedbacks and lead to El Niño events. However, while −TWC forcing results in cool SST anomalies, pre-existing warm SST anomalies in the far eastern equatorial Pacific persist and induce local westerly wind anomalies that prevent consistent development of La Niña conditions. While the TWC mechanism provides adequate equatorial heat content to fuel ENSO development, other factors also play a role in determining whether an ENSO event develops.