Contrasting Impacts of South and North Tropical Indian Ocean Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies on East Asian Summer Climate

摘要

Using observational data and model simulations, the author find that the North Indian Ocean (NIO) sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies can trigger an eastward atmospheric Kelvin wave propagating into the equatorial western Pacific, inducing an anomalous anticyclone over the subtropical Northwest Pacific (NWP) and resulting in prominent summer climate anomalies in the East Asia-Northwest Pacific (EANWP) region. However, the response of tropospheric temperatures and atmospheric Kelvin waves to the South Indian Ocean (SIO) SST anomalies is weak; as a result, the impact of the SIO SST anomalies on the EANWP summer climate is weak. The contrasting impacts of NIO and SIO SST anomalies on the EANWP summer climate is possibly due to the different mean state of SSTs in the two regions. In summer, the climatological SSTs in the NIO are higher than in the SIO, leading to a stronger response of atmospheric convection to the NIO SST anomalies than to the SIO SST anomalies. Thus, compared with the SIO SST anomalies, the NIO SST anomalies can lead to stronger tropospheric air temperature anomalies and atmospheric Kelvin waves to affect the EANWP summer climate.