2002 Articles

Mechanism Study of the ENSO and Southern High Latitude Climate Teleconections.

Liu, Jiping; Yuan, Xiaojun; Rind, David; Martinson, Douglas G.

Evidence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections in the southern high latitude climate has been identified, although the mechanisms that might lead to such far-reaching teleconnections remain unresolved. Here we propose one such mechanism-the regional mean meridional atmospheric circulation (the regional Ferrel Cell)-responsible for the covariability of the ENSO and Antarctic Dipole (ADP; a predominant interannually-varying signal in the southern high latitudes). It is found that the altered storm tracks associated with the ENSO variability influence the regional Ferrel Cell indirectly by changing the meridional eddy heat flux divergence and convergence, and shifting the latent heat release zone. The changes of the regional Ferrel Cell then influence the southern high latitude climate by modulating the mean meridional heat flux.