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Tropical Climate Systems

ENSO and the Monsoons

ENSO

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a coupled ocean-atmospheresystem in the tropical Pacific

‘Coupled’ means that the oceaninfluences conditions in theatmosphere; and the atmosphereinfluences conditions in theocean

Oscillation indicates the systemmoves around a stable state (nobeginning or end)

ENSO States

La Niña is the cooling of seasurface temperatures (SSTs)below normal in the eastern andcentral Pacific

Normal (or neutral) are long-term average SST conditions forthe equatorial Pacific

El Niño is the warming of SSTsin the eastern and centralequatorial Pacific

ENSO States

Conditions are very warm in theequatorial Pacific. The warmSSTs support moist warmsurface air temperatures and lotsof convection.

The organization of thisconvection depends on both onSSTs (>28ºC) and thegeographic distribution of thosSSTs

Precipitation over the Equatorial Pacific

Warm SST anomalies support increased precipitationover the Pacific

Southern Oscillation

The Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of ENSOand refers specifically to the difference in surface pressurebetween Tahiti and Darwin, Australia

The negative phase of the Southern Oscillation occurs during ElNiño episodes when abnormally high air pressure coversIndonesia and the western tropical Pacific and abnormally low airpressure covers the eastern tropical Pacific.

Coupled System

Time series of El Niño and the Southern Oscillation reveal thatthe two systems are tightly correlated

Atmospheric General CirculationLots of Features:

Highs in the subtropicsLows in polar regions

Westerlies in mid-latitudesEasterlies near the equator

Clouds near the equator

Hadley cell circulation

Normal (Neutral) Conditions

• SSTs are warmer in the west Pacific, and colder in theeast.• The cold feature in the east Pacific is generally calledthe cold tongue, a narrow band of upwelled wateron/near the equator.

Normal (Neutral) Conditions• The Trade Winds (easterlies) push surface waters from east to west• This action piles the warm waters in the western Pacific and upwells colder

subsurface water in the east• Sea Surface Height is elevated in the west so there is both a pressure

gradient and a temperature gradient• The higher SSTs in the western Pacific (warm pool) support more

convection (which produces lower atmospheric surface pressures)

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentialsof Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th editionby AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, adivision of Thomson Learning:www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Normal (Neutral) ConditionsThe trade windsand SSTgradientsupportconvection inthe west andfeed the Walkercirculation,whichreinforces thewinds andinhibitsconvection inthe central andeastern Pacific

Normal (Neutral) Conditions

The Major Balance during Normal Periods

• Westward force provided by easterly wind is balanced by the eastward forceprovided by water piled into west Pacific.Westward wind stress on ocean = Eastward pressure gradient force in upper ocean

PGF in oceanForce from east wind

NOAA/PMEL

So What Happens if this is Disrupted?

PGF in oceanForce from east wind

A relaxation of the trade winds (or a burst of westerly winds)disrupts the force balance. The warm surface waters in thewest slosh to the east. Upwelling in the east slackens andcentral and eastern Pacific SSTs warm

Global pattern of SST anomalies duringEl Niño Years

Global pattern of Surface Pressureanomalies during El Niño Years

The Warm Phase of ENSO (El Niño)• The resulting warm event (called an El Niño event) is associated with warm water

across the equatorial Pacific, and a shift in convection to the east Pacific.• The thermocline across the Pacific is flat, and equatorial winds are generally from

the west (supporting the shift in convection)• Air is sinking over the west Pacific, and rising over the east• A warm event typically occurs once every 3-7 years.

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials ofMeteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition byAHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division ofThomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800730-2215.

The Cold Phase of ENSO (La Niña)

An intensification ofthe trade windsleads to moreupwelling in theeast, a greater west-east sea surfaceheight and SSTdifferential, and amore intense Walkercirculation

ENSO Events Affect the GlobalCirculation

• When convection is moved tothe east and central Pacific,this has profound effects onglobal atmospheric pressureand wind patterns

• The plot on the right shown a“train” of anomalous pressurecenters that extend towardNorth America from the regionof unusually strong El Niñoconvection/precipitation in thecentral/east Pacific.

Horel and Wallace (1981)

Some Impacts El Niño Events

ENSO events areassociated with changesin temperatures andprecipitation around theworld.

Some Impacts La Niña Events

ENSO events areassociated with changesin temperatures andprecipitation around theworld.

What is Going on Now?

What is Going on Now?

We are in a weak La Niña

Atmospheric Circulations Occur at aVariety of Scales

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Earth’srotation important

Local Wind Systems (Mesoscale)• Consider a case where pressure is

initially uniform from north tosouth

• The pressure at every height is thesame everywhere, and surfacepressure is uniform

• Now, warm up the atmosphere tothe south (assume this is on theorder of tens of kilometers fromthe barn), and cool it to the north.

• The atmosphere will expand tothe south, and pressure surfaceswill move upwards with height.

• The atmosphere shrinks to thenorth, and pressure surfaces movedown with height

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Local Wind Systems

• This causes a pressuregradient force from southto north, and ends upmoving mass north.

• Because mass has beenremoved from theatmospheric column to thesouth, surface pressurefalls there

• Because mass is added tothe atmosphere to thenorth, surface pressurerises there

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Local Wind Systems

• A circulation near thesurface is driven by thepressure gradient force,with air moving fromnorth to south.

• Because the scale is small,the Earth’s rotation is notimportant, and wind blowsin the direction of thepressure gradient force

• Such local circulations arevery prominent in Oregon

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Example: Sea Breeze• Near the ocean, the land warms up relative to the ocean in the afternoon,

creating a pressure gradient near the surface (particularly with clearweather). The ocean has a high heat capacity and is relatively resistant totemperature changes

• This pressure gradient drives an onshore flow in late afternoon• Strong summer heating in the Willamette valley can cause a sea breeze to

even influence far inland areas

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Example: Land Breeze

• Near the ocean, the land cools more than the ocean during the night,creating a pressure gradient near the surface (particularly under clearskies and strong radiative cooling).

• This pressure gradient drives an offshore flow during night

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Example: Diurnal Wind Variationsnear the Coast

Temperature

Dewpoint

A few days of clear skies and a strong diurnal cycle in temperature over land nearNorth Bend on the Coast. The ocean temperature changed very little.

Diurnal Variation in WindsNear the Coast

The wind dramatically switches from slightly onshore in the late afternoon, to offshore during the night. Note: the Oregon coastal system has complicating factors that prevent the wind from blowing directly onshore or offshore (east-west).

Florida Sea BreezeSurface heating and lifting of air along a sea breeze producethe frequent summer thunderstorms in south Florida

Monsoons can be thought of aslarger scale land/sea breezes

• Monsoon: A regional circulation system characterizedby seasonal changes in wind speed or direction

–South Asian monsoon–Southwestern United States

• At the root of such systems is a differential heating ofland vs. ocean at different times of the year that creates apressure gradient, much like in the local systems (e.g.sea breeze)• However, the Earth’s rotation (and therefore theCoriolis force) become increasingly important in suchsystems due to the larger scale

Monsoon System of South Asia• Just as for local circulations that are forced on diurnal timescales by a temperature

gradient between ocean and land areas, seasons force differences in the temperatureof land versus ocean in monsoon regions.

• South Asian land areas become very hot by May and June, creating lower pressureover land than ocean. The pressure differences drive circulations.

• The land of South Asia is cooler than the ocean during winter, forcing a pressuredifference between land and ocean that is opposite of that during summer.

Monsoon System of South Asia

Seasonal Reversal ofIndian Ocean Winds and Pressure

Low pressureHigh pressure

Low pressure High pressure

Note that the flow forced by the land-ocean temperature and pressure differences doesbegin to adjust to the Earth’s rotation on these scales. (Along the equator the Coriolis forcevanishes and winds generally blow directly from high to low pressure).

Sea-Level Pressure and Surface Winds

The Tibetan Plateau is particularly critical for thedevelopment of the South Asian monsoons

• Upper tropospheric air temperaturesabove elevated land surfaces aresignificantly warmer than correspondingair temperatures above surfaces at lowerelevations (Molnar and Emanuel, 1999).

• The Tibetan Plateau region (withelevations above 3000m) supports asummertime high pressure ridge and thewarmest summertime uppertropospheric temperatures on the planet(Li and Yanai 1996).

• Intensifies the land-sea contrast

The Seasonal Cycle of Indian Precipitation

Indian precipitation is generally highest during the summertime months of July through September, and suppressed during winter.

JulyJanuary

The Seasonal Cycle of Indian Precipitation

Monsoon System of The SouthwesternUnited States

Precipitation Peaks in Most Places in the Desert SW during July and August (not true on the West Coast). The shift in the flow is associated with an increasein atmospheric moisture and precipitation during summer.

July 2001

From Instructor's Edition for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology (with InfoTrac), 4th 4th edition by AHRENS. © 2005.Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

Monsoon System of The SouthwesternUnited States

During Summertime

Very Hot/Low Pressure

Cooler/Higher Pressure

Mid-Summer Circulation and Pressure

Adams and Comrie (1997)

Monsoons circulations are seasonal averages

There is much day-to-dayvariability.

‘Failure’ of the Indianmonsoon is not completedrought. It can refer to a lateonset of rains, a long breakin the rains during themonsoon time of year, or alow seasonal amount of rain(~75% of normal).

Monthly Average

Like the sea breeze, the strength of the summer highpressure ridge above the Tibetan Plateau and the

upper tropospheric temperature gradient between thePlateau and Indian Ocean are tied to the strength of

the monsoon circulation and rains

H

Increased Tibetan Plateau Snow Depth Decreased Tibetan Plateau Snow Depth

H

Weaker MonsoonCirculation

Stronger MonsoonCirculation