The climate variability in the Western North Pacific (WNP), which is surrounded by densely populated countries, is closely tied to the lives of the people in the East Asia in terms of climate and socioeconomics. Along with global warming, remarkable interannual and interdecadal variations in sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface height have been observed in the WNP. Here we demonstrated that boreal summer SST variability in the western hemisphere warm pool (WHWP, a.k.a. Atlantic Warm Pool) near the Intra-Americas Sea, which is known as the second largest warm pool on the planet, has considerably contributed to the climate variability in the WNP in subsequent winter. This is possible due to westward propagation of Rossby waves associated with a WHWP-SST warming (cooling) in mid-summer to early fall season, which induces northerly (southerly) wind anomalies over the North Pacific. In the presence of northeasterly mean trade winds, the anomalous meridional winds interact with SST and precipitation anomalies. Such air-sea coupling processes gradually move equatorward and westward along the climatological migration of the Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone, and it has finally an effect on the climate variability over the WNP in winter. Further diagnosis verifies that WHWP-WNP connection exists not only on interannual time scale but also on decadal time scale. The analysis using state-of-the-art climate models reasonably supports this argument. A better understanding of the WHWP influence is expected to improve forecasts for the WNP climate and assist socioeconomic development in the East Asia.
1.Univ Hawaii Manoa, Sch Ocean & Earth Sci & Technol, Int Pacific Res Ctr, Dept Atmospher Sci, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA 2.Pohang Univ Sci & Technol POSTECH, Div Environm Sci & Engn, 77 Cheongam Ro, Pohang 790784, South Korea 3.Yonsei Univ, Dept Atmospher Sci, 50 Yonsei Ro, Seoul 120749, South Korea 4.Nanjing Univ Informat Sci & Technol, Joint Int Res Lab Climate & Environm Change ILCEC, Key Lab Meteorol Disaster, Minist Educ KLME,CIC FEMD, Nanjing, Jiangsu, Peoples R China
Recommended Citation:
Park, Jae-Heung,Kug, Jong-Seong,An, Soon-Il,et al. Role of the western hemisphere warm pool in climate variability over the western North Pacific[J]. CLIMATE DYNAMICS,2019-01-01,53(5-6):2743-2755