Decade-Scale trans-Pacific Propagation and Warming Effects of an El Nino Anomaly

摘要

Using a combination of satellite altimeter measurements of sea surface height,satellite infrared measurements of sea surface temperature, and a global ocean model, we present evidence that the 1982-1983 El Nino spawned a Rossby wave along the coast of North America. Furthermore, this Rossby wave lasted over a decade, crossed the entire Pacific, and in 1991-1992 interacted with the Kuroshio Extension, an important heat-transporting current flowing eastward from Japan, usually along about 35 deg N. The interaction routed a portion of the Kuroshio Extension's transport to a more northern path, causing a major warm anomaly which spanned the northern Pacific from Japan to Alaska in 1993. (MM).