Southern Ocean SST Variability and Its Relationship with ENSO on Inter-Decadal Time Scales

Empirical orthogonal function （EOF） analysis reveals a co-variability of Sea surface temperatures （SSTs） in the Southern Hemisphere （0°-60°S）. In the South Indian and Atlantic Oceans, there is a subtropical dipole pattern slanted in the southwest-northeast direction. In the South Pacific Ocean, a meridional tripole structure emerges, whose middle pole co-varies with the dipoles in the South Indian and Atlantic Oceans and is used in this study to track subtropical Pacific variability. The South Indian and Atlantic Ocean dipoles and the subtropical Pacific variability are phase-locked in austral summer. On the inter-decadal time scales, the dipoles in the South Indian and Atlantic Oceans weaken in amplitude after 1979/1980. No such weakening is found in the subtropical South Pacific Ocean. Interestingly, despite the reduced amplitude, the correlation of the Indian Ocean and Atlantic dipoles with E1 Nino and Southern Oscillation （ENSO） are enhanced after 1979/1980. The same increase in correlation is found for subtropical South Pacific variability after 1979/1980. These inter-decadal modulations imply that the Southern Hemisphere participates in part of the climate shift in the late 1970s. The correlation between Southern Hemisphere SST and ENSO reduces after 2000.

Interannual to decadal variation of spring sea level anomaly in the western South China Sea

Satellite observations of sea level anomalies(SLA) from January 1993 to December 2012 are used to investigate the interannual to decadal changes of the boreal spring high SLA in the western South China Sea(SCS) using the Empirical Orthogonal Function(EOF) method. We find that the SLA variability has two dominant modes. The Sea Level Changing Mode(SLCM) occurs mainly during La Ni?a years, with high SLA extension from west of Luzon to the eastern coast of Vietnam along the central basin of the SCS, and is likely induced by the increment of the ocean heat content. The Anticyclonic Eddy Mode(AEM) occurs mainly during El Ni?o years and appears to be triggered by the negative wind curl anomalies within the central SCS. In addition, the spring high SLA in the western SCS experienced a quasi-decadal change during 1993–2012; in other words, the AEM predominated during 1993–1998 and 2002–2005, while the La Ni?a-related SLCM prevailed during 1999–2001 and 2006–2012. Moreover, we suggest that the accelerated sea level rise in the SCS during 2005–2012 makes the SLCM the leading mode over the past two decades.