EnsodSstOce

SST anomalies caused by anomalous ocean circulation in the eastern equatorial Pacific

Description:

Computes the amount of cooling (warming) by anomalous ocean circulation needed to generate surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) of -1 (1) °C during La Nina (El Nino) events in the eastern equatorial Pacific (horizontal Niño3 average)

Reference observations:

TropFlux 1979-2018 (main)

ERA-Interim 1979-2018, HadISST 1870-2018

Region:

Niño3, Niño3.4

Regridding:

None

Steps (computation):

Niño3.4 SSTA

seasonal cycle removed
detrending (if applicable)
smoothed with time running average
spatial average

ENSO events

detect December Niño3.4 SSTA < -0.75std (> 0.75std)

SSTA caused by THFA during 6 months

seasonal cycle removed
detrending (if applicable)
smoothed with time running average
spatial average
dSSTthf = THFA summed from July to December

SSTA caused by ocean circulation during 6 months (by residual)

dSSToce = dSST - dSSTthf
abs((model-ref)/ref)

Time frequency:

monthly

Units:

% of error

Variable name:

sea surface temperature (SST) total heat flux (THF)

Dive down Level 1:

The first level shows the diagnostic used to compute the metric and highlight the difference between the model and the reference. Figure 1: sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) caused by anomalous ocean circulation in the eastern equatorial Pacific (Niño3 averaged) during all La Niña (multiplied by -1) and El Niño for 1°C of warming (usually smaller than the reference). The black and blue markers show respectively the reference and the model. The metric derived is the absolute value of the relative difference: abs((model-ref)/ref).

Dive down Level 2:

The second level shows the evolution of dSST, dSSTthf and dSSToce from June to December. Figure 2: temporal evolution of evolution of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA), i.e. dSST, SSTA changes by total heat flux anomalies (THFA), i.e. dSSTthf and SSTA changes by anomalous ocean circulation, i.e. dSSToce in the eastern equatorial Pacific (Niño3 averaged) during all La Niña (multiplied by -1) and El Niño for 1°C of warming. Usually SSTA develop too early due to too much warming by dSSToce. The black, blue and red curves show respectively dSST, dSSTthf and dSSToce, dashed and solid lines show respectively the reference and the model.