North Atlantic oscillation controls multidecadal changes in the North Tropical Atlantic−Pacific connection

Ruiqiang Ding (), Hyacinth C. Nnamchi, Jin-Yi Yu, Tim Li, Cheng Sun, Jianping Li (), Yu‐Heng Tseng, Xichen Li, Fei Xie, Juan Feng, Kai Ji and Xumin Li
Additional contact information
Ruiqiang Ding: Beijing Normal University
Hyacinth C. Nnamchi: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Jin-Yi Yu: University of California
Tim Li: University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Cheng Sun: Beijing Normal University
Jianping Li: Ocean University of China
Yu‐Heng Tseng: National Taiwan University
Xichen Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fei Xie: Beijing Normal University
Juan Feng: Beijing Normal University
Kai Ji: Beijing Normal University
Xumin Li: Beijing Normal University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract By exciting subtropical teleconnections, sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Tropical Atlantic (NTA) during boreal spring can trigger El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in the following boreal winter, thereby providing a precursor for ENSO predictability. However, this NTA−ENSO connection is not stationary, and it varies considerably over multidecadal timescales, which cannot be directly explained by the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation or the global warming trend. Here we show that multidecadal changes in the NTA−ENSO connection are principally controlled by multidecadal variability associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). During the positive phase of the NAO, the amplification of the NTA impact on ENSO mainly arises from strengthening of the boreal spring mean precipitation over the equatorial Atlantic and enhancement of the persistence of NTA SST anomalies, which enhance the NTA influence by exciting stronger and more persistent subtropical teleconnections. Our findings show that multidecadal variability of the NAO is key to understanding the impacts of the NTA SST on the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36564-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36564-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36564-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().