• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 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 $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$.