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1.
研究了印度洋Dipole事件期间热带太平洋．印度洋海洋次表层海温异常和海面风应力异常分布主要型,揭示了Dipole事件的两种模态,探讨了其形成机制,得到如下结果：（1）印度洋Dipole事件在热带印度洋次表层海温异常表现为“〈”型的东西向偶极子分布,“〈”以东的热带东印度洋为沿赤道呈舌状西伸的显著海温异常中心,“〈”以西的热带中西印度洋为反号的、以赤道为准对称的南强北弱显著海温异常中心．（2）印度洋Dipole事件由两种模态构成,二者具相同空间分布但具不同的时间变率,它们是两个独立的大尺度海气相互作用的结果．Dipole事件第一模态源于热带太平洋一印度洋尺度海气相互作用,它与ENSO事件共存．Dipole事件第二模态起因于热带印度洋尺度海气相互作用,它与Mascarene高压位置和强度变化紧密联系．当二者位相一致时,产生强Dipole事件,二者位相相反时,Dipole事件很弱或消失,一者较强时,Dipole事件一般也较强．（3）印度洋Dipole事件是热带印度洋海面异常风应力强迫的结果,海面异常风应力作用下产生的垂直输送导致海水堆积和涌升是造成次表层海温异常的主要动力过程．当赤道印度洋为异常东风时,热带东印度洋冷海水上升,热带西印度洋暖海水堆积,热带印度洋温跃层东浅西深;由于Coriolis力的作用,赤道海域离赤道流造成冷海水上升,赤道印度洋温跃层变浅;赤道两侧热带印度洋异常反气旋环流及旋度场,造成该异常旋度中心区域暖海水堆积,赤道外热带印度洋温跃层加深．三者共同作用产生正位相Dipole事件．热带印度洋为异常西风时,动力过程相反,产生负位相Dipole事件． 相似文献
2.
印度洋海表温度（Sea Surface Temperature，简称SST）的方差分析和相关分析表明南印度洋也存在一个海温偶极子型振荡，并定义了一个南印度洋海表温度异常偶极子指数.夏、秋季（南半球冬、春）的南印度洋偶极子指数与后期热带500hPa和100hPa高度场异常有显著而持续的相关，在冬、春达到最大，并可以持续到次年夏、秋.前期夏、秋季节的南印度洋偶极模对次年我国大陆东部夏季降水异常有显著的影响，对应偶极子正位相，次年夏季印度洋、南海（东亚）夏季风偏弱；副高加强且南撤、西伸，南亚高压偏强且位置偏东，易形成我国长江流域降水偏多，华南降水偏少；负位相年反之.后期冬季西太平洋暖池是联系南印度洋偶极子与次年我国夏季降水异常关系的一条重要途径.南印度洋偶极子表现出了明显的独立于ENSO（El Nio Southern Oscillation，简称ENSO）的特征. 相似文献
3.
《中国科学:地球科学》2015,(1)
热带印度洋与热带太平洋是全球海气耦合最活跃的区域之一,两者的海温场中均存在着显著的年际变化模态,而且这两个洋盆间的海温异常模态间是相互联系的.本文采用一个复杂的全球海气耦合模式,模拟了两组分别包含和不包含热带印度洋海温年际变化对热带大气强迫的耦合试验,对比研究印度洋海温年际变化在厄尔尼诺事件演变中的贡献.结果表明,热带印度洋海温年际变化的存在使得厄尔尼诺事件的成熟期强度增加,且在厄尔尼诺的发展年秋季出现明显的快速增长.但在厄尔尼诺衰亡年,热带印度洋海温年际变化却使得热带太平洋暖海温减弱甚至转变为冷海温,使得厄尔尼诺事件的演变周期减短.具体来讲,发生于厄尔尼诺发展年的印度洋偶极子正异常事件能够在热带印度洋东部到热带西太平洋之间强迫出一支异常的下沉气流及异常Walker环流,加强原有的西太平洋低层西风异常,通过海洋平流及波动调整过程增强厄尔尼诺期间太平洋的暖海温异常;而在厄尔尼诺衰亡年出现的印度洋全洋盆增暖则在南亚季风爆发的背景下,在印度大陆上空产生一支明显的异常上升气流,激发西太平洋东传的Kelvin波及低层大气的东风异常,削弱了热带太平洋洋面的西风异常,促使厄尔尼诺从暖位相向冷位相转化,并使得西北太平洋出现反气旋式大气环流和降水的减少.因此,印度洋海温偶极子模态主要影响厄尔尼诺事件的发展阶段,而印度洋海温洋盆一致变化模态显著影响厄尔尼诺事件的衰亡阶段,两者均可通过改变大气环流而遥强迫太平洋海域. 相似文献
4.
利用NCEP/NCAR大气再分析资料以及Hadley中心海表温度资料,针对北太平洋副热带高压(简称副高)的完整系统,通过分析超前于ENSO事件的海平面副高年际异常特征及其对ENSO事件的触发作用以及ENSO事件对500 hPa副高和海平面副高的滞后影响,结果表明了北太平洋副热带高压年际变异和ENSO循环之间存在选择性相互作用.即在大多数情况下,一方面,前期海平面副高减弱会导致热带西太平洋表面西风异常,通过海洋平流过程触发El Nino事件在夏季发生发展,在秋冬季成熟; 而另一方面,El Nino事件在秋冬季发展成熟后,增强了赤道中太平洋的对流性热源,通过对异常热源的动力响应,同期和次年夏季500 hPa副高增强,又通过增强的Hadley环流作用,副热带地区下沉运动增强,从而使得次年夏季海平面副高增强,增强的海平面副高又有利于触发下一个La Nina事件.副高年际变异和ENSO循环之间相互作用的选择性主要取决于副高异常是否接近于赤道以及ENSO事件本身的持续性.这种相互作用有利于在热带太平洋海气系统产生准两年振荡. 相似文献
5.
合成分析了20世纪80年代以来5次主要的ENSO事件，发现外热带大气扰动通过经向风异常不仅对ENSO的发生起到重要的触发作用，而且影响到ENSO的发展和衰减. 因此，尽管ENSO对外热带大气扰动有影响，但同时外热带大气扰动又与ENSO有相互作用. 在ENSO发生前，南印度洋中纬度为反气旋异常，并通过Rossby波的频散作用加强了澳大利亚附近的反气旋异常；同时，澳大利亚东部沿海的南风异常与菲律宾附近的北风异常在赤道辐合，促进了赤道西太平洋西风异常的爆发和其后ENSO的发生. 在ENSO发生之后，东南太平洋上的气旋异常及相关的南风异常进一步增强了赤道中东太平洋的西风异常和ENSO的发展. 当ENSO达到成熟时，澳大利亚东部的反气旋异常东移，使东南太平洋的气旋异常减弱，南方涛动型环流异常亦随之减弱；同时，阿留申气旋异常加强，尤其是副热带北太平洋的风场异常可加强赤道中东太平洋海水的涌升，使该地区海表温度降低，加速ENSO的消亡. 相似文献
6.
本文分析了夏季西北太平洋大气环流异常特征及其与海温变化的关系,发现夏季西北太平洋异常反气旋/气旋(WNPAC/WNPC)是西北太平洋地区对流层中低层存在的重要大气环流异常现象,与东亚-西北太平洋低纬度至高纬度的经向PJ波列及欧亚中高纬度东西纬向波列的变化有关,通过与中高纬度环流变化的联系,对东亚及欧亚中高纬度气候有重要影响.夏季WNPAC/WNPC与热带海温变化的关系存在明显的不对称性,显著的WNPAC一般出现在El Niño衰减年夏季,与前期El Niño成熟年冬季的赤道东太平洋暖海温异常和El Niño衰减年春夏季印度洋海盆尺度的暖海温异常有明显的正相关关系,进一步表明了WNPAC在El Niño事件影响夏季气候中的重要桥梁作用;而夏季显著的WNPC与前期和同期热带海温变化的关系存在明显的不确定性,主要与夏季热带印度洋和赤道中东太平洋之间东暖西冷的热力差异异常引起的孟加拉湾-赤道西太平洋西风异常有关.进一步分析WNPAC/WNPC与海温变化关系不对称的可能原因,发现El Niño和La Niña衰减年夏季热带印度洋和太平洋海温变化所引起的印-太之间海温(热力)差异的一致性特征可能是导致WNPAC/WNPC与海温变化关系不对称的主要原因. 相似文献
7.
《中国科学:地球科学》2015,(5)
利用卫星遥感和现场观测资料,结合线性Rossby波诊断解,研究了近20年热带太平洋和印度洋暖池区海面高度的快速升高趋势.结果表明,两大洋热带区域同步的海面上升趋势通过印度尼西亚海的海洋波导通道联系在一起,其动力关联主要发生在温跃层深度,表现为热带太平洋的海面高度低频波动信号通过印度尼西亚海传至印度洋,并影响到南印度洋的东部海区,而南印度洋西部的海面变化主要受印度洋内区局地风场的调制.超前-滞后相关分析的结果表明,东南印度洋海面高度的年际和年代际变化信号分别源自太平洋赤道和近赤道海区,分别受到了太平洋赤道风应力异常和近赤道风应力旋度异常的调控,并且分别与ENSO的年际过程和PDO的年代际过程密切相关. 相似文献
8.
利用1979—2013年NCEP/DOE再分析资料的大气多要素日平均资料、美国NOAA日平均向外长波辐射资料和ERSST月平均海温资料,分析赤道大气季节内振荡(简称MJO)活动对南海夏季风爆发的影响及其与热带海温信号等的协同作用.结果表明,赤道MJO活动与南海夏季风爆发密切联系,MJO的湿位相(即对流活跃位相)处于西太平洋位相时,有利于南海夏季风爆发,而MJO湿位相处于印度洋位相时,则不利于南海夏季风爆发.赤道MJO活动影响南海夏季风爆发的物理过程主要是大气对热源响应的结果,当MJO湿位相处于西太平洋位相时,一方面热带西太平洋对流加强使潜热释放增加,导致处于热源西北侧的南海—西北太平洋地区对流层低层由于Rossby响应产生气旋性环流异常,气旋性环流异常则有利于西太平洋副热带高压的东退,另一方面菲律宾附近热源促进对流层高层南亚高压在中南半岛和南海北部的建立,使南海地区高层为偏东风,从而有利于南海夏季风建立;当湿位相MJO处于印度洋位相时,热带西太平洋对流减弱转为大气冷源,情况基本相反,不利于南海夏季风建立.MJO活动、孟加拉湾气旋性环流与年际尺度海温变化协同作用,共同对南海夏季风爆发迟早产生影响,近35年南海夏季风爆发时间与海温信号不一致的年份,基本上是由于季节转换期间的MJO活动特征及孟加拉湾气旋性环流是否形成而造成,因此三者综合考虑对于提高季风爆发时间预测水平具有重要意义. 相似文献
9.
本文根据季节转换前后副高脊面附近经向温度梯度变号的本质，利用相关分析和合成分析等方法研究了季节转换年际变化与外部影响因子的联系. 结果表明，冬春季青藏高原热状况和ENSO（El Nio/Southern Oscillation，厄尔尼诺/南方涛动）是决定亚洲季风区季节转换年际变化的主要因素. 当冬、春季海温呈现El Nio异常时，Walker环流减弱，于是西太平洋暖池区对流活动受到抑制，而赤道东太平洋对流活动加强则强迫赤道印度洋地区产生绝热下沉运动，使得印度洋地区大气偏暖，结果增大了南北向温度梯度，季节转换往往偏晚. 反之，季节转换偏早. 初春高原上空对流层中高层的气温异常对于判断季节转换迟早有很好的指示意义. 相似文献
10.
《中国科学:地球科学》2021,(10)
2020年6～7月我国长江中下游地区遭受了超强持续性梅雨的侵袭,其累积降水量打破了1961年以来的历史记录.通过分析1979～2020年长江流域梅雨期降水,发现相比于7月而言, 6月长江流域梅雨呈现出更加显著的年代际变化特征. 21世纪初期以来,热带西印度洋海温经历了明显的年代际增暖.观测分析和模式试验均表明, 5～6月热带西印度洋海温异常与6月长江流域降水存在显著的年代际相关.热带西印度洋异常增暖可以有效调制并加强西北太平洋反气旋,其西北侧异常强的西南风将大量水汽输送至长江流域,为超强梅雨的发生提供有利的大尺度环流条件. 21世纪初热带西印度洋海温异常由冷位相转为暖位相,使2020年5月的海温异常高达0.7℃,约为1.8倍标准差,显著提高了2020年梅雨期内强降水过程的发生概率. 相似文献
11.
Using reanalysis data, the role of initial signals in the tropical Pacific Ocean in predictions of negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events were analyzed. It was found that the summer predictability barrier (SPB) phenomenon exists in predictions, which is closely related to initial sea temperature errors in the tropical Pacific Ocean, with type-1 initial errors presenting a significant west-east dipole pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and type-2 initial errors showing the opposite spatial pattern. In contrast, SPB-related initial sea temperature errors in the tropical Indian Ocean are relatively small. The initial errors in the tropical Pacific Ocean induce anomalous winds in the tropical Indian Ocean by modulating the Walker circulation in the tropical oceans. In the first half of the prediction year, the anomalous winds, combined with the climatological winds in the tropical Indian Ocean, induce a basin-wide mode of sea surface temperature (SST) errors in the tropical Indian Ocean. With the reversal of the climatological wind in the second half of the prediction year, a west-east dipole pattern of SST errors appears in the tropical Indian Ocean, which is further strengthened under the Bjerknes feedback, yielding a significant SPB. Moreover, two types of precursors were also identified: a significant west-east dipole pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean and relatively small temperature anomalies in the tropical Indian Ocean. Under the combined effects of temperature anomalies in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans, northwest wind anomalies appear in the tropical Indian Ocean, which induce a significant west-east dipole pattern of SST anomalies, and yield a negative IOD event. 相似文献
12.
XiaoYuan Hong HaiBo Hu XiuQun Yang Yuan Zhang GuoQiang Liu Wei Liu 《中国科学:地球科学(英文版)》2014,57(11):2616-2627
Both the tropical Indian and tropical Pacific Oceans are active atmosphere-ocean interactive regions with robust interannual variability, which also constitutes a linkage between the two basins in the mode of variability. Using a global atmosphereocean coupled model, we conducted two experiments(CTRL and PC) to explore the contributions of Indian Ocean interannual sea surface temperature(SST) modes to the occurrence of El Ni?o events. The results show that interannual variability of the SST in the Indian Ocean induces a rapid growth of El Ni?o events during the boreal autumn in an El Ni?o developing year. However, it weakens El Ni?o events or even promotes cold phase conversions in an El Ni?o decaying year. Therefore, the entire period of the El Ni?o is shortened by the interannual variations of the Indian Ocean SST. Specifically, during the El Ni?o developing years, the positive Indian Ocean Dipole(IOD) events force an anomalous Walker circulation, which then enhances the existing westerly wind anomalies over the west Pacific. This will cause a warmer El Ni?o event, with some modulations by ocean advection and oceanic Rossby and Kelvin waves. However, with the onset of the South Asian monsoon, the Indian Ocean Basin(IOB) warming SST anomalies excite low level easterly wind anomalies over the west tropical Pacific during the El Ni?o decaying years. As a result, the El Ni?o event is prompted to change from a warm phase to a cold phase. At the same time, an associated atmospheric anticyclone anomaly appears and leads to a decreasing precipitation anomaly over the northwest Pacific. In summary, with remote forcing in the atmospheric circulation, the IOD mode usually affects the El Ni?o during the developing years, whereas the IOB mode affects the El Ni?o during the decaying years. 相似文献
13.
《中国科学:地球科学(英文版)》2015,(8)
Based on the merged satellite altimeter data and in-situ observations,as well as a diagnosis of linear baroclinic Rossby wave solutions,this study analyzed the rapidly rise of sea level/sea surface height(SSH)in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans during recent two decades.Results show that the sea level rise signals in the tropical west Pacific and the southeast Indian Ocean are closely linked to each other through the pathways of oceanic waveguide within the Indonesian Seas in the form of thermocline adjustment.The sea level changes in the southeast Indian Ocean are strongly influenced by the low-frequency westward-propagating waves originated in the tropical Pacific,whereas those in the southwest Indian Ocean respond mainly to the local wind forcing.Analyses of the lead-lag correlation further reveal the different origins of interannual and interdecadal variabilities in the tropical Pacific.The interannual wave signals are dominated by the wind variability along the equatorial Pacific,which is associated with the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation;whereas the interdecadal signals are driven mainly by the wind curl off the equatorial Pacific,which is closely related to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. 相似文献
14.
Seasonal and interannual patterns of sea surface temperature in Banda Sea as revealed by self-organizing map 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Seasonal and interannual variations of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Banda Sea are studied for the period of January 1985 through December 2007. A neural network pattern recognition approach based on self-organizing map (SOM) has been applied to monthly SST from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Oceans Pathfinder. The principal conclusions of this paper are outlined as follows. There are three different patterns associated with the variations in the monsoonal winds: the southeast and northwest monsoon patterns, and the monsoon-break patterns. The southeast monsoon pattern is characterized by low SST due to the prevailing southeasterly winds that drive Ekman upwelling. The northwest monsoon pattern, on the other hand, is one of high SST distributed uniformly in space. The monsoon-break pattern is a transitional pattern between the northwest and southeast monsoon patterns, which is characterized by moderate SST patterns. On interannual time-scale, the SST variations are significantly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) phenomena. Low SST is observed during El Niño and/or positive IOD events, while high SST appears during La Niña event. Low SST in the Banda Sea during positive IOD event is induced by upwelling Kelvin waves generated in the equatorial Indian Ocean which propagate along the southern coast of Sumatra and Java before entering the Banda Sea through the Lombok and Ombai Straits as well as through the Timor Passage. On the other hand, during El Niño (La Niña) events, upwelling (downwelling) Rossby waves associated with off-equatorial divergence (convergence) in response to the equatorial westerly (easterly) winds in the Pacific, partly scattered into the Indonesian archipelago which in turn induce cool (warm) SST in the Banda Sea. 相似文献
15.
利用1979-2009年NCEP第二套大气再分析资料和ERSST海温资料,分析南海夏季风爆发时间的年际和年代际变化特征,考察南海夏季风爆发早晚与南大洋海温之间的联系.主要结果为:(1)南海夏季风爆发时间年际和年代际变化明显,1979-1993年与1994-2009年前后两个阶段爆发时间存在阶段性突变;(2)南海夏季风爆发时间与前期冬季(12-1月)印度洋-南大洋(0-80°E,75°S-50°S)海温、春季(2-3月)太平洋-南大洋(170°E -80°W,75°S-50°S)海温都存在正相关关系,当前期冬、春季南大洋海温偏低(高)时,南海夏季风爆发偏早(晚).南大洋海温信号,无论是年际还是年代际变化,都对南海夏季风爆发具有一定的预测指示作用;(3)南大洋海温异常通过海气相互作用和大气遥相关影响南海夏季风爆发的迟早.当南大洋海温异常偏低(偏高)时,冬季南极涛动偏强(偏弱),同时通过遥相关作用使热带印度洋-西太平洋地区位势高度偏低(偏高)、纬向风加强(减弱),热带大气这种环流异常一直维持到春季4、5月份,位势高度和纬向风异常范围逐步向北扩展并伴随索马里越赤道气流的加强(减弱),从而为南海夏季风爆发偏早(偏晚)提供有利的环流条件.初步分析认为,热带大气环流对南大洋海气相互作用的遥响应与半球际大气质量重新分布引起的南北涛动有关. 相似文献
16.
Two modes of dipole events in tropical Indian Ocean 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
By analyzing the distributions of subsurface temperature and the surface wind stress anomalies in the tropical Pacific and
Indian Oceans during the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events, two major modes of the IOD and their formation mechanisms are revealed.
(1) The subsurface temperature anomaly (STA) in the tropical Indian Ocean during the IOD events can be described as a “<”
-shaped and west-east-oriented dipole pattern; in the east side of the “<” pattern, a notable tongue-like STA extends westward
along the equator in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean; while in the west side of the “<” pattern, the STA has opposite sign
with two centers (the southern one is stronger than the northern one in intensity) being of rough symmetry about the equator
in the tropical mid-western Indian Ocean. (2) The IOD events are composed of two modes, which have similar spatial pattern
but different temporal variabilities due to the large scale air-sea interactions within two independent systems. The first
mode of the IOD event originates from the air-sea interaction on a scale of the tropical Pacific-Indian Ocean and coexists
with ENSO. The second mode originates from the air-sea interaction on a scale of the tropical Indian Ocean and is closely
associated with changes in the position and intensity of the Mascarene high pressure. The strong IOD event occurs when the
two modes are in phase, and the IOD event weakens or disappears when the two modes are out of phase. Besides, the IOD events
are normally strong when either of the two modes is strong. (3) The IOD event is caused by the abnormal wind stress forcing
over the tropical Indian Ocean, which results in vertical transports, leading to the upwelling and pileup of seawater. This
is the main dynamic processes resulting in the STA. When the anomalous easterly exists over the equatorial Indian Ocean, the
cold waters upwell in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean while the warm waters pileup in the tropical western Indian Ocean,
hence the thermocline in the tropical Indian Ocean is shallowed in the east and deepened in the west. The off-equator component
due to the Coriolis force in the equatorial area causes the upwelling of cold waters and the shallowing of the equatorial
India Ocean thermocline. On the other hand, the anomalous anticyclonic circulations and their curl fields located on both
sides of the equator, cause the pileup of warm waters in the central area of their curl fields and the deepening of the equatorial
Indian Ocean thermocline off the equator. The above three factors lead to the occurrence of positive phase IOD events. When
anomalous westerly dominates over the tropical Indian Ocean, the dynamic processes are reversed, and the negative-phase IOD
event occurs.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40776013), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant
No. 2006CB403601) and the Knowledge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX-SW-222) 相似文献
17.
ENSO and the natural variability in the flow of tropical rivers 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Kishan N. Amarasekera Robert F. Lee Earle R. Williams Elfatih A. B. Eltahir 《Journal of Hydrology》1997,200(1-4):24-39
This paper examines the relationship between the annual discharges of the Amazon, Congo, Paran á, and Nile rivers and the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies of the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean, an index of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Since river systems are comprehensive integrators of rainfall over large areas, accurate characterization of the flow regimes in major rivers will increase our understanding of large-scale global atmospheric dynamics. Results of this study reveal that the annual discharges of two large equatorial tropical rivers, the Amazon and the Congo, are weakly and negatively correlated with the equatorial Pacific SST anomalies with 10% of the variance in annual discharge explained by ENSO. Two smaller subtropical rivers, the Nile and the Paraná, show a correlation that is stronger by about a factor of 2. The Nile discharge is negatively correlated with the SST anomaly, whereas the Paraná river discharge shows a positive relation. The tendency for reduced rainfall/discharge over large tropical convection zones in the ENSO warm phase is attributed to global scale subsidence associated with major upwelling in the eastern Pacific Ocean. 相似文献
18.
Variability of the subsurface temperature, current, and heat content in the tropical Pacific Ocean has been extracted in association with the two dominant modes of the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA): the low-frequency mode and the biennial mode. In a recent paper, these two modes were identified as the major modes of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The low-frequency mode, which explains about 36% of the total SSTA variability, represents the dominant component of SSTA variability in the tropical Pacific, and is associated not with a fast physical evolution but with a slow stochastic undulation. The biennial mode, which is the second dominant component and explains about 12% of the total variability exhibits, on the other hand, a strong physical evolution. The space–time patterns of the subsurface variability were derived from an assimilated data set via a cyclostationary empirical orthogonal functions (CSEOF) analysis and the regression of the resulting principal component (PC) time series on the target PC time series of the surface modes. Extracted space–time patterns describe the detailed evolution of the physical changes in the upper ocean of the tropical Pacific that are associated with the corresponding surface modes. Specifically, they clearly show the surface and subsurface connection of the physical changes during ENSO events, and the role of equatorial waves in the manifestation of physical changes at the surface. The derived patterns of heat content, subsurface temperature, and zonal current anomalies realistically depict the detailed temporal changes of those variables and are consistent with our understanding of the physics in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The biennial mode appears to depict faithfully the phase progression of El Niño and La Niña. The propagation of equatorial Kelvin waves along the thermocline is clearly visible during El Niño and La Niña events in the cyclostationary representation of the physical modes in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Although the low-frequency mode explains three times more SSTA variability than the biennial mode, the former does not induce strong equatorial wave activity. This observation is significant considering that both El Niño or La Niña are often viewed simply in terms of a significant SST change in the tropical Pacific. The results of the present study indicate: (1) that the two ENSO modes represent significantly different physical evolutions; (2) that the amount of SST warming or cooling does not dictate the physical evolution of ENSO; and (3) that the two modes play essentially different dynamical roles including the generation of equatorial waves.Responsible Editor: John Wilkin 相似文献