The Control of Meridional Differential Surface Heating Over the Level of ENSO Activity: A Heat-Pump Hypothesis

Numerical experiments with a coupled model have been carried out to test the heat-pump hypothesis for ENSO. The hypothesis states that the level of ENSO activity is controlled by the meridional differential surface heating over the Pacific: either an enhanced surface heating over the equatorial region or an enhanced cooling over the subtropical/extratropical ocean may result in a regime with stronger ENSO events. Moreover, ENSO may be a mechanism that regulates the long-term stability of the coupled equatorial ocean-atmosphere system. The results from the numerical experiments are shown to be consistent with this hypothesis. A stronger tropical heating or a stronger subtropical/extratropical cooling tends to increase the contrast between the SST in the tropical western Pacific warm-pool and the temperature of the equatorial thermocline water and thereby destabilize the coupled equatorial oceanatmosphere system. In response, a regime with stronger ENSO events sets in. The stronger ENSO events transport more heat downward and poleward, cooling the warm-pool SST and warming the equatorial thermocline water. In the presence of ENSO, the difference between the time-mean warm-pool SST and the time-mean temperature of the equatorial thermocline water is found to be insensitive to changes in the external forcing.