El Niño-Southern Oscillation diversity and its relationship with the North Atlantic Oscillation – Atmospheric anomalies response over the North Atlantic and the Pacific

Abstract

To explore the impacts of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the linear correlation among the indices of each oscillation was investigated. The indices Niño 1+2, Niño 3, Niño 3.4, Niño 4, ONI, SOI, BEST, TNI and MEI were used to represent the ENSO, besides the NAO index. The analysis considers the ENSO diversity in its spatial structure. The results show that when years with Eastern Pacific (EP) La Niña events were omitted, the linear correlation increased concerning other scenarios. This means that NAO responses for the Central Pacific (CP) ENSO tend to be linear, but seemingly they are not so for EP ENSO, which explains why the ENSO/NAO relationship has been difficult to identify and predict. The TNI-NAO relationship had the highest correlation values, followed by NAO-El Niño 4, whilst NAO/El Niño 1+2 and NAO/El Niño 3 showed the lowest coefficients. The results also confirmed that the atmospheric dynamics over the North Atlantic have a more linear teleconnection to the West and Central Pacific than to the Eastern Pacific. Changes in deep convection, atmospheric circulation, and vorticity are discussed like possible mechanisms that trigger the changes in impacts over the North Atlantic and other locations. The composite anomalies map also showed the contrast in the effects of both events and the importance of considering those differences when modeling ocean dynamics.