HR: 0800h
AN: GC51A-0159 [Abstracts]
TI: Influence of the Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode on El-Nino Southern Oscillation
AU: * Nakamura, T
EM: 5ated002@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp
AF: Graduate School of Earth and Environmental Science, Tokai University, 1117 Kitakaname,
Hiratsuka, 2591292, Japan
AU: Tachibana, Y
EM: tachi@jamstec.go.jp
AF: Observational Research for Global Environmental Change, The Japan Agency for Marine-
Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, 2370061, Japan
AB:
The influence of the Northern Hemisphere annular mode (NAM) on the El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was
examined using 41 years of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data set. The NAM index in spring has significant correlation
with the Nino-3 index in the following winter. The NAMfs signature on an anomalous westerly in the tropical
Pacific corresponds with the modulation of the westerly wind burst (WWB). The signature of the spring NAM on
the tropical westerly anomalies follows the modulated WWB and continuously broadens eastward from summer
to winter. The NAM-related SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific also broaden from summer to winter, and then, it
consists with an anomaly pattern of ENSO in winter.
An AGCM experiment, in which SSTs are fixed as a climatological-mean monthly distribution, also shows same
result for the relationship between the NAM and tropical westerlies in spring. An agreement between the
observational result and the model experiment indicates the possibility of that the NAM actively influences on the
tropical circulations.
A probable mechanism how the NAM affects tropics was examined using 26 years of NCEP/DOE reanalysis data
set. The frequency of the cold and dry surge defined by northerly and temperature dropping increases associated
with the positive phase of the NAM. The cold and dry air gains heat and moisture from the warmer ocean in the
tropical Pacific. Since the tropical atmospheric heating induces a Rossby response through the Matsuno-Gill
theory, surface pressure anomalies related to the spring NAM consists with the twin cyclone. The westerly
between the cyclones intensifies the WWB. As a result, the NAM could be an indirect trigger of ENSO through the
modulation of the WWB.
UR: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006.../2005GL025432.shtml
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
DE: 3305 Climate change and variability (1616, 1635, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504)
SC: Global Environmental Change [GC]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting