Characteristics of the response of sea surface temperature in the central Pacific associated with warm episodes of the Southern Oscillation.

Abstract

Although the warmest ocean area in the western central Pacific exhibits very little annual variation, it is very sensitive to the ENSO, displaying large variability during such episodes. Analysis of zonal profiles of SST in this area shows two major patterns. The first pattern is warm in the east and central areas and slightly below normal in the west (1972 type ENSO). A second pattern is characterized by the presence of nearly uniformly warm anomalies in the entire area (1963 type ENSO). A third, which occurred only in 1976, is warm in the east, normal in the central, and slightly below normal in the west. These three patterns account for 62% of the total equatorial Pacific SST variance about the mean seasonal profile. The patterns of SST profile mainly depend on the relative contribution of the warmest water in the west-central Pacific and the equatorial cold tongue in the east. -from Authors