Articles | Volume 21, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-3003-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-3003-2025
Research article
 | 
19 Nov 2025
Research article |  | 19 Nov 2025

ENSO and the Temperature of the North Equatorial Counter Current

David John Webb

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Short summary
A modern climate model is used to test a new hypothesis that changes observed during El Niños are, in part, forced by changes in the temperature of the North Equatorial Counter Current. This is a warm current that flows eastwards across the Pacific, a few degrees north of the Equator, close to the Inter-Tropical Convection Zone, a major region of deep atmospheric convection. The test runs show significant El Niño type responses, giving confidence that the hypothesis is correct.
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