A simple diagnostic based on sea surface height with an application to central Pacific ENSO
Jufen Lai,Richard J. Greatbatch,and Martin Claus
Jufen Lai
State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a global influence on weather and climate. Over most of the equatorial Pacific, where ENSO is focused, variations in sea surface height, such as measured by satellite, are strongly influenced by vertical displacements of the ocean thermocline. We show that linearly removing this influence leads to a time series of sea surface height that capture ENSO dynamics in the central Pacific, where ENSO variability has become more active in recent decades.
The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a global influence on weather and climate. Over...