Interdecadal change in the relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific interior subtropical-tropical cells

Xue HAN; Junqiao FENG; Fujun WANG; Qingye WANG; Dunxin HU

doi:10.1007/s00343-025-4108-2

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Interdecadal change in the relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific interior subtropical-tropical cells

Physics | Updated：2025-10-16

- Interdecadal change in the relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific interior subtropical-tropical cells
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 43, Issue 5, Pages: 1389-1404(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Key Laboratory of Ocean Observation and Forecasting, Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
  2.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  3.Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao 266237, China
- Author bio：
  
  fengjunqiao@qdio.ac.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-025-4108-2
  CLC：
- Received：15 April 2024，
  
  Accepted：09 September 2024，
  
  Online First：09 November 2024，
  
  Published：01 September 2025
- Accepted：
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HAN Xue,FENG Junqiao,WANG Fujun,et al.Interdecadal change in the relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific interior subtropical-tropical cells[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2025,43(05):1389-1404.
DOI：

HAN Xue,FENG Junqiao,WANG Fujun,et al.Interdecadal change in the relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific interior subtropical-tropical cells[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2025,43(05):1389-1404. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-025-4108-2.

摘要

Abstract

We used the ocean reanalysis dataset SODA2.2.4 to investigate the relationship between the interior branch of subtropical-tropical cells (STCs) in the Pacific Ocean and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over interdecadal timescales between 1930 and 2010

as well as the possible mechanisms involved. Interior transport within the upper pycnocline layers of STCs (InSTC) along 9°S (InSTC9s) shows a significant correlation of 0.54 with ENSO over the study period. However

there is an interdecadal shift in the relationship between InSTC along 9°N (InSTC9n) and ENSO. The correlation coefficient between InSTC9n and ENSO is not statistically significant between 1930 and 1965 (PD1)

but is as high as 0.68 (significant at the 95% confidence level) between 1965 and 2010 (PD2). Composite and regression analysis suggests that this shift may be caused by the relationship between InSTC9n and the tropical wind field. During PD1

InSTC9n was driven primarily by the local wind field outside equatorial region

with a relatively weak response to the equatorial wind related to ENSO. In contrast

during PD2

the wind field associated with InSTC9n showed a similar spatial distribution to that of ENSO within the equatorial region

indicating a close relationship between InSTC9n and ENSO. The wind stress curl associated with ENSO drives the anomalous InSTC9n in off-equatorial regions

whose signal can propagate westward in the form of Rossby wave and modulate the thermal structure of the tropical Pacific

favoring the development of ENSO. The possible connection between the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and interdecadal changes in the ENSO-InSTC9n relationship was also examined. There is a significant connection between the AMO and the interdecadal change in the relationship between ENSO and InSTC9n; however

the associated mechanism remains to be explored in future studies.

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references

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