A PRINCIPAL MODE OF CIRCULATION COVARIATION BETWEEN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERES AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH ENSO DURING BOREAL WINTER

Abstract:

By employing the singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis, we have investigated in the present paper the covariations between circulation changes in the Northern (NH) and Southern Hemispheres (SH) and their associations with ENSO by using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, the reconstructed monthly NOAA SST, and CMAP precipitation along with NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) ENSO indices. A bi-hemispheric covariation mode (hereafter BHCM) is explored, which is well represented by the first mode of the SVD analysis of sea surface pressure anomaly (SLPA-SVD1). This SVD mode can explain 57.36% of the total covariance of SLPA. BHCM varies in time with a long-term trend and periodicities of 3–C5 years. The long term trend revealed by SVD1 shows that the SLP increases in the equatorial central and eastern Pacific but decreases in the western Pacific and tropical Indian Ocean, which facilitates easterlies in the lower troposphere to be intensified and El Niño events to occur with lower frequency. The spatial pattern of the BHCM looks roughly symmetric about the equator in the tropics, whereas it is characterized by zonal disturbances in the mid-latitude of NH and is highly associated with AAO in the mid-latitude of SH. On inter-annual time scales, the BHCM is highly correlated with ENSO. The atmosphere in both the NH and SH responds to sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial region, while the contemporaneous circulation changes in the NH and SH in turn affect the occurrence of El Niño/La Niña. In boreal winter, significant temperature and precipitation anomalies associated with the BHCM are found worldwide. Specifically, in the positive phase of the BHCM, temperature and precipitation are anomalously low in eastern China and some other regions of East Asia. These results are helpful for us to better understand interactions between circulations in the NH and SH and the dynamical mechanisms behind these interactions