چکیده:
با استفاده از دادههای میانگین ماهانة ERA-Interim، النینوهای ۱۹۹۷-199۸، ۲۰۰۹-۲۰۱۰، و ۲۰۱۵-201۶، که بهترتیب النینوهای فرین شرق و مرکز اقیانوس آرام و النینوی فرین ترکیبیاند مطالعه شده است. نتایج نشان داد آغاز هر سه النینوی فرین از ماه ژوئیه بوده است؛ درحالیکه تفاوتهای بارزی در زمان از بین رفتن النینوهای ۱۹۹۷-199۸ و ۲۰۱۵-201۶ وجود دارد. در هر سه النینو، بیهنجاریهای مثبت و منفی دمای سطح دریا بهترتیب در مناطق استوایی شرق و غرب اقیانوس آرام تشکیل شدهاند. بیشینة بیهنجاریهای مثبت دمای سطح دریا طی وقوع النینوی ۱۹۹۷-199۸ در مناطق استوایی شرق اقیانوس آرام و در النینوی ۲۰۰۹-۲۰۱۰ در مناطق استوایی مرکز اقیانوس آرام قرار دارند. بیهنجاریهای مثبت دمای سطح دریا در النینوی ۲۰۱۵-201۶ از مرکز تا شرق مناطق استوایی اقیانوس آرام کشیده شدهاند. همچنین، اندازة بیهنجاریهای دمای سطح دریا و فشار تراز دریا در النینوی ۱۹۹۷-199۸ از النینوی ۲۰۰۹-۲۰۱۰ بزرگتر بوده است. در هر سه النینو، بیهنجاریهای مثبت (منفی) ارتفاع ژئوپتانسیلی در تراز 300 هکتوپاسکال در همان مناطقی از اقیانوس آرام حارّهای شکل گرفتهاند که بیهنجاریهای مثبت (منفی) دمای سطح دریا مشاهده میشود. بیهنجاریهای شکلگرفته در ترازهای فوقانی وردسپهر در مناطق حارّهای اقیانوس آرام در طی این سه النینو بر الگوهای جوی مناطق دیگر تأثیر گذاشتهاند.
Introduction The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle of alternating warm El Nino and cold La Nina events occurs when the tropical Pacific Ocean and its overlying atmosphere change from its natural state for at least several consecutive months (Neelin et al., 1998). The neutral phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation is derived by the strong zonally asymmetric state of the equatorial Pacific and is characterized by surface easterly trade winds along the equatorial Pacific, rising motion, deep convection and heavy rainfall over the western equatorial Pacific, westerly winds at upper levels and sinking motion over the eastern equatorial Pacific (Bjerknes, 1969). El Nino is characterized by weak and La Nina by strong zonal SST gradients, accompanied respectively by weakening and strengthening of the trade winds across the equatorial Pacific (McPhaden et al. 2006). As a result, compared to the neutral phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, convective systems intensify in the western tropical Pacific and slightly shift to the west during La Nina events, but shift to the central and eastern tropical Pacific during El Nino events. Since this early recognition of the coupling between the atmosphere and the Pacific ocean by Bjerknes (1966) and Bjerknes (1969), major advances have beenmade toward a comprehensive understanding of the physics of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. This is particularly achived through development of complex climatemodels for realistic simulation of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle (Bellenger et al., 2014), and great observational advances that have been made during the international Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program conducted between 1985 and 1994 (McPhaden et al., 1998). El Nino or the warm phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation is a quasi-periodic natural phenomenon that occurs in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The El Nino-Southern Oscillation not only influences the climate of nearby regions, but it is the most important natural climate factor that contributes to the interannual climate variability over many regions across the globe, including North America (e.g. Yu et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2017), the Middle East (e.g. Alizadeh-choobari, 2017; Alizaeh-Choobari et al., 2018a, Alizaeh-Choobari et al., 2018b), East Asia (e.g. Feng and Li, 2011), Southeast Asia (e.g. Lee et al., 2017) and the Indian subcontinent (e.g. Kumar et al., 2006). Depending on the location of the maximum sea surface temperature in the eastern or central equatorial Pacific, the eastern Pacific El Nino or the central Pacific El Nino are identified, while a mixed event of the eastern and central Pacific El Nino events has been also diagnosed. Materials and methods In this study, using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis Interim (ERA-Interim) monthly dataset with a horizontal resolution of 0.75º 0.75º, and the Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature version 5 (ERSSTv5) dataset, the phase of ENSO and the type of El Nino events during the period 1979-2016 are determined. In addition, characteristics of the 1997-98 eastern Pacific El Nino, the 2009-10 central Pacific El Nino and the 2015-16 El Nino, which is a mixed event of the eastern and central Pacific El Nino, are investigated. Results and discussion Analysis indicateed that during the period 1979-2016, 1979-80, 1982-83, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1991-92, 1994-95, 1997-98, 2002-03, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2014-15 and 2015-16 have been the years for which three-month running means of the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) for 5 consecutive periods became greater or equal to 0.5 degree Celcius, indicating the occurrence of El Nino in these years. Using the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and by examining spatial correlation between sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and results of the empirical orthogonal function, the eastern and central Pacific El Ninos during the period 1979-2016 are determined. The 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Nino events are both categorized as extreme El Nino events. The 2009-10 El Nino is weaker than the other two events, but over the last century, it has been the strongest central Pacific El Nino event. Results indicated that the onset of all these three events was in June, while some differences are found between termination of the 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Ninos, including different time of dissipation for these events. All these three events have shown characteristics of classic El Nino events, such that anomalous positive and negative sea surface temperature are seen in the eastern and western equatorial Pacific, respectively. Nevertheless, maximum positive sea surface temperature is formed in the eastern equatorial Pacific during the 1997-98 El Nino, which is different from the 2009-10 El Nino event with the maximum sea surface temperature in the central (near the dateline) equatorial Pacific. In fact, maximum positive sea surface temperature anomalies are located in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific during the 1997-98 and 2009-10 El Nino events, respectively, while it extends from central to eastern equatorial Pacific during the 2015-16 El Nino. Intensities of the maximum sea surface temperature anomalies and mean sea level pressure have been greater during the 1997-98 El Nino compared to those during the 2009-10 event, indicating that central Pacific El Ninos are generally less intense than eastern Pacific El Nino events. It is shown that positive sea surface temperature anomalies in the 2015-16 El Nino event cover a larger area, extending from the central to the eastern equatorial Pacific. It is found that both sea surface temperature and mean sea level pressure anomalies in the equatorial Pacific were larger during the 1997-98 eastern Pacific El Nino than that of the 2009-10 central Pacific El Nino. This suggests that the central Pacific El Nino events are generally weaker than the eastern Pacific El Nino events. In all of the three El Nino events, positive (negative) geopotential height anomalies at 300 hPa pressure level in the equatorial Pacific are collocated with positive (negative) sea surface temperature anomalies. Geopotential height anomalies in the upper levels over the tropical Pacific influence weather patterns of other regions.It is discussed and shown that different geopotential height anomalies at upper levels of the equatorial Pacific during the three El Nino events have led to different teleconnections across the globe. For example, temperature anomalies in the Antarctic during the 2009-10 El Nino were opposite to those during the 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Nino events. Conclusion Analysis of the ERA-Interim dataset with the horizontal resolution of 0.75º 0.75º for the period 1979-2016 indicated that the eastern, central and mixed El Nino events have generally different characteristics in the equatorial Pacific. As a result, teleconnection patterns of these events across the globe are also found to be different.