Record warming in the South Pacific and western Antarctica associated with the strong central‐Pacific El Niño in 2009-10

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Lee, T, Hobbs, WR, Willis, JK, Halkides, D, Fukumori, I, Armstrong, EM, Hayashi, AK, Liu, WT, Patzert, W, Wang, O
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Amer Geophysical Union 2010
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Oceanography; Physical Oceanography; Austral; Bellingshausen Sea; Pacific; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL044865; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/81130

Satellite data for the past three decades reveal a recordhighsea surface temperature (SST) anomaly within a largemid‐latitude region of the south‐central Pacific (SCP) duringthe mature phase of the 200910 El Nio, with a peakmagnitude that is 5 times the standard deviation of localSST anomaly and is warmer than the concurrent tropical‐Pacific SST anomaly. The SCP oceanic warming was confinedto the upper 50 meters and is associated with anextreme and persistent anticyclone. Wind changes associatedwith the anticyclone caused the oceanic warming withsurface heat flux and ocean processes playing equallyimportant roles. The anticyclone diverted circumpolar westerliesand warm air towards Antarctica. Austral‐summerSST in the Bellingshausen Sea also reached a three‐decadehigh. The extreme atmospheric and oceanic anomalies in theSouth Pacific may have been fueled by the 200910 El Niobecause of its record‐high SST anomaly in the centralequatorialPacific.