El Niño-Southern Oscillation Displacements of the Western Equatorial Pacific Warm Pool
Abstract
The western equatorial Pacific warm pool (sea-surface temperatures >29°C) was observed to migrate eastward across the date line during the 1986-1987 El Niño-Southern Oscillation event. Direct velocity measurements made in the upper ocean from 1986 to 1988 indicate that this migration was associated with a prolonged reversal in the South Equatorial Current forced by a large-scale relaxation of the trade winds. The data suggest that wind-forced zonal advection plays an important role in the thermodynamics of the western Pacific warm pool on interannual time scales.
References
BARBER, R.T., BIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF EL-NINO, SCIENCE 222: 1203 (1983).
BATTISTI, D.S., DYNAMICS AND THERMODYNAMICS OF A WARMING EVENT IN A COUPLED TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE OCEAN MODEL, JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES 45: 2889 (1988).
BUSALACCHI, A.J., INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC - REVISITED, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERES 88: 7551 (1983).
CANE, M.A., JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 14: 586 (1984).
CANE, M.A., OCEANOGRAPHIC EVENTS DURING EL-NINO, SCIENCE 222: 1189 (1983).
Delcroix, T., Journal of Geophysical Research 96: 3249 (1991).
DELCROIX, T, UPPER OCEAN WATER MASSES AND TRANSPORTS IN THE WESTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC (165-DEGREES-E), JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 17: 2248 (1987).
GILL, A.E., AN ESTIMATION OF SEA-LEVEL AND SURFACE-CURRENT ANOMALIES DURING THE 1972 EL-NINO AND CONSEQUENT THERMAL EFFECTS, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 13: 586 (1983).
GILL, A.E., THE 1982-83 CLIMATE ANOMALY IN THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC, NATURE 306: 229 (1983).
GRAHAM, N.E., THE EL-NINO CYCLE - A NATURAL OSCILLATOR OF THE PACIFIC-OCEAN ATMOSPHERE SYSTEM, SCIENCE 240: 1293 (1988).
HARRISON, D.E., LOCAL AND REMOTE FORCING OF ENSO OCEAN WAVE-GUIDE RESPONSE, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 19: 691 (1989).
KILADIS, G.N., J CLIMATOL 2: 1069 (1989).
KOUSKY, V.E., J CLIMATOL 2: 254 (1989).
LAU, K.M., J ATMOS SCI 45: 506 (1986).
LEGLER, D.M., IOC TECHNICAL SER 33 4: 11 (1988).
MCCREARY, J, EASTERN TROPICAL OCEAN RESPONSE TO CHANGING WIND SYSTEMS - WITH APPLICATION TO EL NINO, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 6: 632 (1976).
MCCREARY, J.P., A SIMPLE-MODEL OF EL-NINO AND THE SOUTHERN OSCILLATION, MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 112: 934 (1984).
MCPHADEN, M.J., VARIABILITY IN THE WESTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC-OCEAN DURING THE 1986-87 EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION EVENT, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 20: 190 (1990).
MEYERS, G, THE NORTH EQUATORIAL COUNTERCURRENT AND HEAT-STORAGE IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC-OCEAN DURING 1982-83, NATURE 312: 258 (1984).
NICHOLLS, N, THE SOUTHERN OSCILLATION AND INDONESIAN SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE, MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 112: 424 (1984).
PALMER, T.N., RESPONSE OF 2 ATMOSPHERIC GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODELS TO SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE ANOMALIES IN THE TROPICAL EAST AND WEST PACIFIC, NATURE 310: 483 (1984).
PHILANDER, SGH, UNSTABLE AIR SEA INTERACTIONS IN THE TROPICS, JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES 41: 604 (1984).
PHILANDER, SGH, EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION PHENOMENA, NATURE 302: 295 (1983).
RAMAGE, C.S., UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TECHNICAL REPROT UHMET 80-03 (1980).
RASMUSSON, E.M., VARIATIONS IN TROPICAL SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SURFACE WIND FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOUTHERN OSCILLATION EL-NINO, MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 110: 354 (1982).
RASMUSSON, E.M., METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION, SCIENCE 222: 1195 (1983).
Reed, R. K., Nature 322:449 (1986).
ROPELEWSKI, C.F., NORTH-AMERICAN PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ELNINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO), MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 114: 2352 (1986).
ROPELEWSKI, C.F., GLOBAL AND REGIONAL SCALE PRECIPITATION PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION, MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 115: 1606 (1987).
SCHOPF, P.S., JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES 45: 549 (1988).
SEAGER, R, MODELING TROPICAL PACIFIC SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE - 1970-87, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 19: 419 (1989).
WYRTKI, K, WATER DISPLACEMENTS IN THE PACIFIC AND THE GENESIS OF EL-NINO CYCLES, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS 90: 7129 (1985).
WYRTKI, K, EL NINO - DYNAMIC-RESPONSE OF EQUATORIAL PACIFIC OCEAN TO ATMOSPHERIC FORCING, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 5: 572 (1975).
WYRTKI, K, RESPONSE OF SEA-SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY TO THE 1976-EL-NINO, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 9: 1223 (1979).
WYRTKI, K, AN ESTIMATE OF EQUATORIAL UPWELLING IN THE PACIFIC, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 11: 1205 (1981).
WYRTKI, K, MEAN WATER AND CURRENT STRUCTURE DURING THE HAWAII-TO-TAHITI SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 14: 242 (1984).
ZEBIAK, S.E., OCEANIC HEAT-CONTENT VARIABILITY AND EL NINO CYCLES, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 19: 475 (1989).
ZEBIAK, S.E., A MODEL EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION, MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 115: 2262 (1987).
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Already a Subscriber?Sign In
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Science
Volume 250 | Issue 4986
7 December 1990
7 December 1990
Copyright
© 1990 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Published in print: 7 December 1990
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Usage
Altmetrics
Citations
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.
Cited by
- An ~15,000-Year Record of El Niño-Driven Alluviation in Southwestern Ecuador, Science, 283, 5401, (516-520), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.283.5401.516
- Biological and Chemical Response of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean to the 1997-98 El Niño, Science, 286, 5447, (2126-2131), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.286.5447.2126
- Genesis and Evolution of the 1997-98 El Niño, Science, 283, 5404, (950-954), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.283.5404.950
- An Advective-Reflective Conceptual Model for the Oscillatory Nature of the ENSO, Science, 277, 5326, (663-666), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.277.5326.663
- Mechanism of the Zonal Displacements of the Pacific Warm Pool: Implications for ENSO, Science, 274, 5292, (1486-1489), (1996)./doi/10.1126/science.274.5292.1486
- Recent Variability in the Southern Oscillation: Isotopic Results from a Tarawa Atoll Coral, Science, 260, 5115, (1790-1793), (1993)./doi/10.1126/science.260.5115.1790
- Paleoceanography of the Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean, Science, 255, 5041, (172-178), (1992)./doi/10.1126/science.255.5041.172
Loading...
View Options
Get Access
Log in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS Members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
- Become a AAAS Member
- Activate your AAAS ID
- Purchase Access to Other Journals in the Science Family
- Account Help
Log in via OpenAthens.
Log in via Shibboleth.
More options
Purchase digital access to this article
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
View options
PDF format
Download this article as a PDF file
Download PDF