the grace mission has substantiated the low–low satellite-to-satellite tracking (ll-sst) concept. the ll-sst configuration can be combined with the previously realized high–low sst concept in the champ mission to provide a much higher accuracy. the line of sight (los) acceleration difference between the grace satellite pair is the most frequently used observable for mapping the global gravity f...

1! Precipitation change in response to global warming has profound impacts on 2! environment for life but is highly uncertain. Effects of sea surface temperature (SST) 3! warming on the response of rainfall and atmospheric overturning circulation are 4! investigated using Coupled Model Intercomparison Project simulations. The SST 5! warming is decomposed into a spatially uniform SST increase (S...

A stationary SST mode is proposed to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for the phase transition of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. This stationary SST mode differs from the original delayed oscillator mode and the slow SST mode in the sense that it considers both balanced and unbalanced thermocline depth variations and does not take into account the zonal propagation of SST. With...

Abstract The Atlantic Niño is the leading mode of interannual sea-surface temperature (SST) variability in equatorial and assumed to be largely governed by coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics described Bjerknes-feedback loop. However, role atmospheric diabatic heating, which can either an indicator atmosphere’s response to, or its influence on SST, poorly understood. Here, using satellite-era obs...

The dominant variability modes in the Tropics are investigated and contrasted with the anomalous situation observed during the last few years. The prime quantity analyzed is anomalous sea surface temperature (SST) in the region 308S–608N. Additionally, observed tropical surface wind stress fields were investigated. Further tropical atmospheric information was derived from a multidecadal run wit...

[1] The impacts of inter-El Niño events on South American circulation during austral summer are investigated using observations and an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). The AGCM was forced with sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the tropical Pacific for the two El Niño events of 1997/1998 (EN97) and 2002/2003 (EN02). The strong eastern Pacific SST anomaly of EN97 resulted in...

Mechanisms for the spatio-temporal development of the Tropical Pacific Meridional Mode (TPMM) are investigated using a coupled ocean-atmosphere model and observations. In both observation and the model, this meridional mode displays decadal variations and is most pronounced in spring and early summer. The model simulation suggests that once sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the subtrop...

Because of the huge warm water pool that straddles across the tropical western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans, the climate variations in these two oceans are closely related and need to be studied as a whole. Observations reveal a striking out-of-phase relationship between the zonal sea surface height (SSH) gradients in these two oceans and, to a lesser extent, between the corresponding sea ...