Abstract
THE behaviour of the atmosphere and ocean in the equatorial Pacific region, involving the ‘Southern Oscillation’ and ‘El Nino’ phenomena, has been the subject of many studies1–5. Attention has been drawn to the notable persistence of anomalies for a year or more, the spatial correlation of sea surface temperature (SST), rainfall and pressure over large areas, and the strong correlation between atmospheric and oceanic features. Two types of mechanism may explain these phenomena and why they are so marked in that region: (1) thermal inertia, for example, some region of the ocean has a large capacity for heat storage, and the heat takes many months to build up or become depleted; (2) positive feedback, for example, if stronger winds in some region favour colder water, and colder water favours stronger winds, then even if the thermal inertias of both features are such that their time constants are a month or less, anomalies can persist for many months6. New evidence is given here to support a feedback explanation.
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References
Wright, P. B. The Southern Oscillation-Patterns and Mechanisms of the Teleconnections and the Persistence, (Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, HIG–77–13, 1977).
Allison, L. J. et al. Air–sea Interaction in the Tropical Pacific Ocean, (NASA TN D-6684, Washington, 1972).
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WRIGHT, P. Persistence of rainfall anomalies in the central Pacific. Nature 277, 371–374 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/277371a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/277371a0
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