Surface thermal centroid anomaly of the eastern equatorial Pacific as a unified Nio index  

作　　者：方明强 陈艳 李洪平 吴立新 

机构地区：[1]Department of Marine Technologies, Ocean University of China [2]Physical Oceanography Laboratory, Ocean University of China

出　　处：《Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology》2013年第5期1129-1136,共8页中国海洋湖沼学报（英文版）

基　　金：Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(973 Program)(Nos.2012CB957704,2009CB723903);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.40506035,40876005)

摘　　要：By analyzing the variability of global SST （sea surface temperature） anomalies, we propose a unified Nifio index using the surface thermal centroid anomaly of the region along the Pacific equator embraced by the 0.7~C contour line of the standard deviation of the SST anomalies and try to unify the traditional Nifio regions into a single entity. The unified Nifio region covers almost all of the traditional Nifio regions. The anomaly time series of the averaged SST over this region are closely correlated to historical Nifio indices. The anomaly time series of the zonal and meridional thermal centroid have close correlation with historical TNI （Trans-Nifio index） indices, showing differences among E1 Nifio （La Nifia） events. The meridional centroid anomaly suggests that areas of maximum temperature anomaly are moving meridionally （although slightly） with synchronous zonal movement. The zonal centroid anomalies of the unified Nifio region are found helpful in the classification of the Eastern Pacific （EP）/Central Pacific （CP） types of E1 Nifio events. More importantly, the zonal centroid anomaly shows that warm areas might move during a single warming/cooling phase. All the current Nifio indices can be well represented by a simple linear combination of unified Nifio indices, which suggests that the thermal anomaly （SSTA） and thermal centroid location anomaly of the unified Nifio region would yield a more complete image of each E1 Nifio/ La Nina event.By analyzing the variability of global SST(sea surface temperature) anomalies,we propose a unified Ni o index using the surface thermal centroid anomaly of the region along the Pacific equator embraced by the 0.7°C contour line of the standard deviation of the SST anomalies and try to unify the traditional Ni o regions into a single entity.The unified Ni o region covers almost all of the traditional Ni o regions.The anomaly time series of the averaged SST over this region are closely correlated to historical Ni o indices.The anomaly time series of the zonal and meridional thermal centroid have close correlation with historical TNI(Trans-Ni o index) indices,showing differences among El Ni o(La Ni a) events.The meridional centroid anomaly suggests that areas of maximum temperature anomaly are moving meridionally(although slightly) with synchronous zonal movement.The zonal centroid anomalies of the unified Ni o region are found helpful in the classification of the Eastern Pacific(EP)/Central Pacific(CP) types of El Ni o events.More importantly,the zonal centroid anomaly shows that warm areas might move during a single warming/cooling phase.All the current Ni o indices can be well represented by a simple linear combination of unified Ni o indices,which suggests that the thermal anomaly(SSTA) and thermal centroid location anomaly of the unified Ni o region would yield a more complete image of each El Ni o/ La Ni a event.

关 键 词：E1 Nino La Nifia unified Nifio index thermal centroid 

分 类 号：P732[天文地球—海洋科学]