Early and Extreme Warming in the South China Sea During 2015/2016: Role of an Unusual Indian Ocean Dipole Event

Xiao, Feng; Wang, Dongxiao; Leung, Marco Y. T.

doi:10.1029/2020gl089936

Cited by 34 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(79 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It plays an important character in purveying the energy and moisture flux via atmospheric movement (Duan et al, 2008;Dong et al, 2013). A continuous warming and extension of IPWP in the past decades has been captured by both observations and simulations (Rao et al, 2011;Kim et al, 2012;Dong et al, 2013;Lin et al, 2013;Weller et al, 2016;Xiao et al, 2017;Roxy et al, 2019;Xiao et al, 2019;Watanabe et al, 2020;Xiao et al, 2020;Bai et al, 2022). For instance, the warming rate of SST in the tropic Indian Ocean (IO) is approximately two to three times larger than that in the tropic Pacific Ocean (PO) (Luo et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between the hadley circulation and tropical SST meridional structures under different thermal conditions in the indo-pacific warm pool

Feng²,

Li³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Hadley circulation (HC), as a thermally driven large-scale meridional circulation, acts a significant role in the changes of global climate. The modulation of Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) thermal conditions on the relationship between the HC and different tropical sea surface temperature (SST) meridional structures was investigated. Based on the two components of HC and SST, one equatorially asymmetric component (HEA for HC, SEA for SST) and one equatorially symmetric component (HES for HC, SES for SST), the connections of HC to different SST variations in the warm and cold IPWP are explored. The result demonstrates that the relationship of the HC to tropical SST is suppressed in the cold IPWP conditions, whereas it is equivalent to the climatology in the warm IPWP conditions. The plausible mechanism is that the cold (warm) IPWP events are in concordance with the La Niña (El Niño) decay phase. The La Niña decay phase are associated with significant equatorially asymmetric SST anomalies within the IPWP, generating an anomalous meridional circulation and favoring a strengthened equatorially asymmetric anomalous meridional circulation. By contrast, the SST anomalies associated with El Niño decay phase are insignificant. The role of La Niña decay conditions in determining the suppressed connection between SST and HC is further verified by exploring the result after 1979. A similar suppressed response contrast has been detected. Therefore, the results demonstrate that warm and cold ENSO events have impacts on the interannual thermal conditions of IPWP, whereby it plays considerable role in impacting the relationship between the HC and tropical SST. Particularly, with the rapid warming, the interconnection between ENSO events and thermal conditions of IPWP under different timescales could be altered, the influence of which on the responses of the HC to tropical SST remains uncertain and is worthy further researching.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between the hadley circulation and tropical SST meridional structures under different thermal conditions in the indo-pacific warm pool

Feng²,

Li³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most areas within the SCS with high winter SST interannual variability are located in the CT region and CT SST variations are the key mode of winter variability for the SCS, which implies that the CT is important in regulating the SCS winter climate variability (Seow and Tozuka, 2019;Seow et al, 2021). An extensive number of studies (e.g., Liu et al, 2004;Thompson et al, 2016;Xiao et al, 2020aXiao et al, , 2020bSeow et al, 2021;Wang and Wu, 2021) have discussed the atmospheric and oceanic forcings behind the CT formation and its interannual variability. From November to February, the winter monsoon results in latent heat loss and southward advection of cold water over the western SCS, which are responsible for the CT formation (Liu et al, 2004;Seow and Tozuka, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seow et al (2021) noted that the CT interannual variability is forced by cyclonic wind anomalies aloft (Figure 1b). Furthermore, the atmosphere over the SCS is strongly influenced by tropical remote forcings, such as the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans air-sea interactions (Xiao et al, 2020a(Xiao et al, , 2020bSeow et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric impacts of local sea surface temperatures versus remote drivers during strong South China Sea winter cold tongue events

Seow

Hassim

Venkatraman

et al. 2023

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the western part of the South China Sea (SCS) are cooler than in the eastern part in boreal winter, owing to a winter climatological cold tongue (CT). In this study, using a regional atmospheric model configured for the Maritime Continent, we assess the atmospheric impacts of local (or SCS) SSTs versus those from remote drivers (e.g., western tropical Pacific SSTs) during strong CT events with anomalously cool SSTs. In the local run, more rainfall is observed over the eastern SCS, but no significant atmospheric impacts are found over the CT region when SSTs associated with strong CT events are imposed within the SCS while climatological conditions are imposed elsewhere. SCS SST anomalies during strong CT events do not significantly modify the regional wind circulation. The lack of atmospheric response to SSTs over the CT region may be explained by the wintertime mean SSTs (i.e., <27-28 • C) over the CT region that are inadequate to trigger deep atmospheric convection, while eastern SCS SSTs are high enough. The increase of anomalous positive moist static energy (MSE) near the sea level over the eastern SCS indicates underlying warm eastern SCS SST anomalies could be influencing positive rainfall anomalies. In the remote run, imposing climatological SCS SSTs but remote SSTs and lateral boundary conditions linked to strong CT events results in cyclonic wind and positive rainfall anomalies over the eastern SCS and Philippines, which are a Matsuno-Gill response to the diabatic heating anomalies over the warm western tropical Pacific SST anomalies. Positive rainfall and cloud cover anomalies associated with the cyclonic wind anomalies are due to the anomalous positive MSE import into the eastern SCS by horizontal advection. K E Y W O R D Sair-sea interaction, atmosphere, geographic/climatic zone, geophysical sphere, regional and mesoscale modeling, South China Sea, tools and methods, tropicsThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

show abstract

“…Variability in ocean salinity is governed by surface freshwater forcing (evaporation minus precipitation-EMP) and ocean processes (Feng et al 2000, Ren and Riser 2009, 2019. As an important part of the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the SCS is strongly influenced by major climate modes, such as El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) (Wang et al 2006, Xiao et al 2020. Corresponding to these climate modes, significant changes in EMP, wind, and ocean current have been observed, further influencing the sea surface salinity (SSS) in the SCS (Zeng et al 2016, Wang et al 2021.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of El Niño on the South China Sea surface salinity as seen from satellites

Chi

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The impacts of El Niño on sea surface salinity (SSS) in the South China Sea (SCS) are investigated using satellite observations, in-situ data, and reanalysis products. Here, we show that positive SSS anomalies cover most of the SCS during the mature phase of El Niño. The physical processes controlling these positive SSS anomalies are different from region to region, and the differences are especially obvious between the northern and southern SCS. In the northern SCS, the positive SSS anomalies are primarily caused by horizontal advection in response to an enhanced Kuroshio intrusion through the Luzon Strait, while changes in surface freshwater fluxes act to reduce SSS. In the southern SCS, the positive SSS anomalies are largely due to reduced surface freshwater fluxes, with ocean dynamics playing a secondary role. An anomalous anticyclone associated with El Niño is mainly responsible for the reduction of surface freshwater fluxes in the southern SCS.

show abstract

Early and Extreme Warming in the South China Sea During 2015/2016: Role of an Unusual Indian Ocean Dipole Event

Cited by 34 publications

References 56 publications

Relationship between the hadley circulation and tropical SST meridional structures under different thermal conditions in the indo-pacific warm pool

Relationship between the hadley circulation and tropical SST meridional structures under different thermal conditions in the indo-pacific warm pool

Atmospheric impacts of local sea surface temperatures versus remote drivers during strong South China Sea winter cold tongue events

Impacts of El Niño on the South China Sea surface salinity as seen from satellites

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About