DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS AND VERIFICATION OF PREDICTION OF THE TROPICAL PACIFIC SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE ANOMALIESDURING 1997 ~ 1998

By comparing with ENSO events that ever happened in the history, the basic features and probable causes of the anomalous sea surface temperature of the tropical Pacific Ocean during 1997 and 1998 have been analyzed diagnostically. It is found that the 1997/1998 El Nino had significant abnormalities and peculiarities. It differs from the previous El Niño events falling into the simple “eastern pattern” or “western pattern”. The predictions of 1997/1998 El Niño event have also been tested with an intermediate ocean-atmosphere coupled dynamic model. The results show that the skills of the 0～24 lead month forecasts for the warm event are all above 0.5. The predictions of the mature phase and the later stages of the warm event are better than those of the beginning phase.