A Western Pacific Oscillator Paradigm for the El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Authors

Robert H. Weisberg, University of South FloridaFollow
Chunzai Wang, University of South Florida

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1997

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1029/97GL00689

Abstract

A data-based hypothesis is presented on the mechanism of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a major determinant of interannual global climate variability. The hypothesis emphasizes the importance of off-equator sea surface temperature and sea level pressure variations west of the dateline for initiating equatorial easterly winds over the far western Pacific. These winds compete with westerly winds over the equatorial central Pacific enabling the coupled ocean-atmosphere system to oscillate. Consistent with this hypothesis, an analogical oscillator model is constructed that produces ENSO-like oscillations. The proposed mechanism differs from the delayed oscillator paradigm in that wave reflection at the western boundary is not a necessary condition for the coupled ocean-atmosphere system to oscillate.

Rights Information

Terms of use for work posted in Scholar Commons.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Geophysical Research Letters, v. 24, issue 7, p. 779-782

Copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.

Scholar Commons Citation

Weisberg, Robert H. and Wang, Chunzai, "A Western Pacific Oscillator Paradigm for the El Niño-Southern Oscillation" (1997). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 385.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/385