The teleconnection of the tropical Atlantic to Indo-Pacific sea surface temperatures on inter-annual to centennial time scales: a review of recent findings

• Published in: Atmosphere
• Main Authors: Kucharski, Fred, Parvin, Afroja, Rodriguez-Fonseca, Belen, Farneti, Riccardo, Martin-Rey, Marta, Polo, Irene, Mohino, Elsa, Losada, Teresa, Mechoso, Carlos R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2016
• Subjects: Indian; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/62835/; https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/62835/1/atmosphere-07-00029-v2%20%281%29.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos7020029

In this paper, the teleconnections from the tropical Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific region from inter-annual to centennial time scales will be reviewed. Identified teleconnections and hypotheses on mechanisms at work are reviewed and further explored in a century-long pacemaker coupled ocean-atmosphere simulation ensemble. There is a substantial impact of the tropical Atlantic on the Pacific region at inter-annual time scales. An Atlantic Niño (Niña) event leads to rising (sinking) motion in the Atlantic region, which is compensated by sinking (rising) motion in the central-western Pacific. The sinking (rising) motion in the central-western Pacific induces easterly (westerly) surface wind anomalies just to the west, which alter the thermocline. These perturbations propagate eastward as upwelling (downwelling) Kelvin-waves, where they increase the probability for a La Niña (El Niño) event. Moreover, tropical North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies are also able to lead La Niña/El Niño development. At multidecadal time scales, a positive (negative) Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation leads to a cooling (warming) of the eastern Pacific and a warming (cooling) of the western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. The physical mechanism for this impact is similar to that at inter-annual time scales. At centennial time scales, the Atlantic warming induces a substantial reduction of the eastern Pacific warming even under CO2 increase and to a strong subsurface cooling.