The Teleconnection of the Tropical Atlantic to Indo Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures on Inter Annual to Centennial Time Scales: A Review of Recent Findings
In this paper, the teleconnections from the tropical Atlantic to the Indo Pacific region from inter annual to centennial time scales will be reviewed. Identified teleconnections and hypotheses on mechanisms at work are reviewed and further explored in a century long pacemaker coupled ocean atmosphere simulation ensemble. There is a substantial impact of the tropical Atlantic on the Pacific region at inter annual time scales. An Atlantic Nino (Nina) event leads to rising (sinking) motion in the Atlantic region, which is compensated by sinking (rising) motion in the central western Pacific. The sinking (rising) motion in the central western Pacific induces easterly (westerly) surface wind anomalies just to the west, which alter the thermocline. These perturbations propagate eastward as upwelling (downwelling) Kelvin waves, where they increase the probability for a La Nina (El Nino) event. Moreover, tropical North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies are also able to lead La Nina/El Nino development. At multidecadal time scales, a positive (negative) Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation leads to a cooling (warming) of the eastern Pacific and a warming (cooling) of the western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. The physical mechanism for this impact is similar to that at inter annual time scales. At centennial time scales, the Atlantic warming induces a substantial reduction of the eastern Pacific warming even under CO2 increase and to a strong subsurface cooling.