…Webster et al., 1999) and the subtropical Indian Ocean (e.g., Behera and Yamagata, 2001; Reason, 2002), as well as links between the SST anomalies across the eastern Indian Ocean and regional rainfall (Nicholls, 1989; Frederiksen and Balgovind, 1994; England et al., 2006; Ummenhofer et al., 2008c).