The mechanical energies of the global atmosphere in El Niño and La Niña years

Abstract

Two meteorological reanalysis datasets are analyzed to determine the mechanical energies of the global atmosphere in the El Niño and La Niña years. The general consistency of the mean energy components between the two datasets reveals ~1%-3% increase and ~2%-3% decrease in the mean energies in the El Niño years and La Niña years, respectively. These analyses further reveal that the tropospheric temperature responds to the sea surface temperature anomaly with a time lag of two months, which leads to the varying mean atmospheric energies in the El Niño and La Niña years. © 2011 American Meteorological Society.