• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2009

In this study we define the two different types of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$, i.e., the eastern Pacific El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ (i.e., EP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$) versus the central Pacific El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ (i.e., CP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$), during the boreal summer (June-July-August, JJA) and winter (December-January-February, DJF) using the two NINO indices in the tropical Pacific. The two different types of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ significantly differ in terms of the location of the maximum anomalous sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Pacific. The CP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ has been observed more frequently during recent decades compared to the EP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$. In addition, our analysis indicates that the statistics of CP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ during JJA is closely associated with the warming trend in the central equatorial Pacific. We also examine the different responses of the East Asian marginal SST to the two types of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ during JJA and DJF. The CP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ during both JJA and DJF is concurrent with warm SST anomalies around the Korean Peninsula including the East China Sea, which is in contrast to the EP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$. Such different responses are associated with the difference in tropics/mid-latitude teleconnections via atmosphere between the two types of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$. Furthermore, our results indicate that atmospheric diabatic forcing in relation to the precipitation variability is different in the tropical Pacific between the EP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ and the CP-El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$.

• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.465-472
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• 2012

Using various observed data, we examined the evolution of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) during 2011-2012, with focusing on the development of 2012 El Ni$\tilde{n}$o. It is observed that a La Ni$\tilde{n}$a event during 2011 was followed by a moderate El Ni$\tilde{n}$o during 2012 summer. The 2012 summer El Ni$\tilde{n}$o initiated near the west coast of South America on February 2012, and continued to expand westward till August. Given this evolutionary pattern, the 2012 summer El Ni$\tilde{n}$o can be categorized as 'Eastern Pacific (EP) El Ni$\tilde{n}$o' because Ni$\tilde{n}$o-3 index is greater than Ni$\tilde{n}$o-4 index, and it may be the first well-defined EP El Ni$\tilde{n}$o since 2001. On February 2012, this event was initiated mainly by the local air-sea interaction, and at the same time the ocean heat content was accumulated over the tropical western Pacific due to the easterly wind anomaly over the tropical western Pacific. Then, the accumulated heat content slowly propagates to the tropical eastern Pacific, which attributes to maintain El Ni$\tilde{n}$o state during 2012 summer. After August, the positive SST anomaly over the equatorial eastern Pacific decays possibly due to the exhausted heat content and the weakening of air-sea interaction, but the weak positive SST anomaly over the central Pacific remains till now (2012 November).

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.37-51
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• 2018

In this study, we investigate the performance of Global Seasonal Forecasting System version 5 (GloSea5) in Korea Meteorological Administration on the relationship between El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ and East Asian climate for the period of 1991~2010. It is found that the GloSea5 has a great prediction skill of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ whose anomaly correlation coefficients of $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ indices are over 0.96 during winter. The eastern Pacific (EP) El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ and the central Pacific (CP) El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ are considered and we analyze for EP El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$, which is well simulated in GloSea5. The analysis period is divided into the developing phase of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ summer (JJA(0)), mature phase of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ winter (D(0)JF(1)), and decaying phase of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ summer (JJA(1)). The GloSea5 simulates the relationship between precipitation and temperature in East Asia and the prediction skill for the East Asian precipitation and temperature varies depending on the El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ phase. While the precipitation and temperature are simulated well over the equatorial western Pacific region, there are biases in mid-latitude region during the JJA(0) and JJA(1). Because the low level pressure, wind, and vertical stream function are simulated weakly toward mid-latitude region, though they are similar with observation in low-latitude region. During the D(0)JF(1), the precipitation and temperature patterns analogize with observation in most regions, but there is temperature bias in inland over East Asia. The reason is that the GloSea5 poorly predicts the weakening of Siberian high, even though the shift of Aleutian low is predicted. Overall, the predictability of precipitation and temperature related to El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ in the GloSea5 is considered to be better in D(0)JF(1) than JJA(0) and JJA(1) and better in ocean than in inland region.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2017

This study examined the relationship between the initiation timing typhoon season in the Northwestern Pacific and the tropical sea surface temperature (SST) using a numerical simulation. The initiation timing of the typhoon season is closely associated with SSTs over the Indian Ocean (IO) and the eastern Pacific (EP) in the preceding winter and early-spring. The experiment based on the Weather and Research Forecast (WRF) model showed that the start date of the typhoon season is delayed for about one month when the SSTs over the IO and the EP increase in the preceding winter. The forced tropical SST pattern induces anticyclonic anomalies in the Northwestern Pacific, which is an unfavorable condition for typhoon development, and hence it could delay the initiation of the typhoon season.