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Asymmetric evolution of El Niño and La Niña: the recharge/discharge processes and role of the off-equatorial sea surface height anomaly

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Abstract

Observed oceanic and atmospheric anomalies in the tropical Pacific are analyzed to understand the symmetric and asymmetric characteristics between El Niño and La Niña evolutions. It is noted that the evolutions are largely symmetric for El Niño and La Niña prior to and in their mature phase, but become asymmetric afterwards. It is further demonstrated that this asymmetry is due to the fact that, on average, the discharge process associated with El Niño is stronger than the recharge counterpart associated with La Niña. The symmetric and asymmetric evolution for different phases of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is consistent with the associated recharge and discharge processes that are linked with the evolution of anomalous ocean surface current and gradient of sea surface height anomalies (SSHAs). It is suggested that the evolution of the meridional gradient of SSHAs in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific is different between El Niño and La Niña years due to relatively different rates of the SSHA changes on and off the equator. During the decay of a warm event, the equatorial SSHA quickly switches from positive to negative, meanwhile the off-equator areas are occupied by positive SSHAs. Such changes on the equator and in the off-equatorial regions make the concavity of the meridional SSHA favorable for growth and persistence of westward surface zonal current anomaly in the equatorial Pacific, then for the ENSO phase transition. During the decay of a cold event, the slow decrease of the negative SSHA on the equator combined with the disappearance of the negative SSHA in the off-equatorial regions makes the meridional concavity reverse easily and is unfavorable for the steady growth of the eastward surface zonal current anomaly and for the phase transition. Thus, the asymmetric evolution of ENSO is associated with both the atmosphere and ocean anomalies on the equator and off the equator.

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Acknowledgements

Authors appreciate the constructive comments of two reviewers as well as Dr. Peitao Peng and Prof. Raghu Murtugudde. Zhang is supported by the IOCAS through the CAS Strategic Priority Project [the Western Pacific Ocean System (WPOS)] and the NSFC-Shandong Joint Fund for Marine Science Research Center (Grant No. U1406401). Huang is supported by grants from NSF (ATM-0830068), NOAA (NA09OAR4310058), and NASA (NNX09AN50G). All data for this paper are available at NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and National Climate Data Center (NCDC), (http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/GODAS/; http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/data.php?name=access#cfs). The scientific results and conclusions, as well as any view or opinions expressed herein, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NWS, NOAA, or the Department of Commerce.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Prediction Center, NCEP/NWS/NOAA, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Zeng-Zhen Hu, Arun Kumar & Jieshun Zhu

  2. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Bohua Huang

  3. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Jieshun Zhu

  4. Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China

    Rong-Hua Zhang

  5. Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii, 2525 Correa Road, HIG 350, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Fei-Fei Jin

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  1. Zeng-Zhen Hu
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Correspondence to Zeng-Zhen Hu.

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Hu, ZZ., Kumar, A., Huang, B. et al. Asymmetric evolution of El Niño and La Niña: the recharge/discharge processes and role of the off-equatorial sea surface height anomaly. Clim Dyn 49, 2737–2748 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-016-3498-4

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