THE EXCITING MECHANISM OF TROPICAL INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATION TO EL NINO EVENT

The data analyses indicated that the occurrence of EL Nino event is closely related to intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) in the tropical atmosphere: The intraseasonal oscillation is very strong in tile tropics (particularly over the equatorial western Pacific) prior to the occurrence of El Nino; But the ISO is evidently reduced and the quasistationary system is enhanced after the outbreak of El Nino. A simple air-sea coupled model study shows that the periodical self-excited oscillation can be produced in the air-sea-coupled system, but the pattern is different from the observed ENSO mode. When there is external (atmospheric) forcing with interannual time scale, a coupled mode, which looks like the ENSO mode, will be excited in the air-sea system. Synthesizing the results in data analyses and the theoretical investigation. the mechanism of ISO in the tropical atmosphere exciting the El Nino event can be suggested : The interannual anomalies (variations) of the tropical ISO play an important role in the exciting El Nino event through the air-sea interaction.