TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of stratospheric variability on El Niñ
AU - Richter, J. H.
AU - Deser, C.
AU - Sun, L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2015/12/17
Y1 - 2015/12/17
N2 - The effects of the tropical Pacific El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon are communicated to the rest of the globe via atmospheric teleconnections. Traditionally, ENSO teleconnections have been viewed as tropospheric phenomena, propagating to higher latitudes as Rossby waves. Recent studies, however, suggest an influence of the stratosphere on extra-tropical ENSO teleconnections. The stratosphere is highly variable: in the tropics, the primary mode of variability is the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and in the extra-tropics sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) regularly perturb the mean state. Here, we conduct a 10-member ensemble of simulations with a stratosphere-resolving atmospheric general circulation model forced with the observed evolution of sea surface temperatures during 1952-2001 to examine the effects of the QBO and SSWs on the zonal-mean circulation and temperature response to El Niño, with a focus on the northern extra-tropics during winter. We find that SSWs have a larger impact than the QBO on the composite El Niño responses.
AB - The effects of the tropical Pacific El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon are communicated to the rest of the globe via atmospheric teleconnections. Traditionally, ENSO teleconnections have been viewed as tropospheric phenomena, propagating to higher latitudes as Rossby waves. Recent studies, however, suggest an influence of the stratosphere on extra-tropical ENSO teleconnections. The stratosphere is highly variable: in the tropics, the primary mode of variability is the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and in the extra-tropics sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) regularly perturb the mean state. Here, we conduct a 10-member ensemble of simulations with a stratosphere-resolving atmospheric general circulation model forced with the observed evolution of sea surface temperatures during 1952-2001 to examine the effects of the QBO and SSWs on the zonal-mean circulation and temperature response to El Niño, with a focus on the northern extra-tropics during winter. We find that SSWs have a larger impact than the QBO on the composite El Niño responses.
KW - El Niño El Niño impact
KW - El Niño teleconnections
KW - quasi-biennial oscillation
KW - stratospheric variability
KW - sudden stratospheric warmings
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84952900370
U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/124021
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/124021
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84952900370
SN - 1748-9318
VL - 10
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
IS - 12
M1 - 124021
ER -