Abnormal Cooling before and after the 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 ENSO Events in the Korean East Sea Water

摘要

Abnormal cooling of the Korean East Sea Water (KESW) in the East Sea before and after the 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 ENSO events is examined using bimonthly routine observation data from the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute of Koreafor the period 1965 to 2002. The KESW, which occupies roughly a region between the Korean Peninsula and west of approximately 131 deg E, showed extreme cold-state years (1981 and 1996) prior to the two strongest ENSO events of the last half-century. Inter-annual bimonthly mean anomalies at 100 m in the KESW region were -3.10 deg C and -3.41 deg C (SD=1.4 deg C) in 1981 and 1996, respectively. These results suggest that extreme cooling of the KESW may be a prelude to very strong ENSO events through large-scale teleconnections.