This review brings together a new understanding of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Indian Ocean since the last comprehensive review, describing the Indian Ocean circulation patterns, air-sea interactions and climate variability.
El Niño effects are communicated to the Indian Ocean via both large‐scale atmospheric circulation changes over the southern tropical ocean basin and via disturbances to sea‐levels along the coast of Western Australia. CLEX researchers investigated these remote ENSO influences in a state‐of‐the‐art climate model.
It has been remarkable how much we have achieved in this extraordinarily difficult year. Research coming out of the Teleconnections and Variability program over the past four months has strongly focused on how influences in one part of the world can have direct impacts on another.
It has been remarkable how much we have achieved in this extraordinarily difficult year. Research coming out of the Teleconnections and Variability program over the past four months has strongly focused on how influences in one part of the world can have direct impacts on another.
Using atmospheric model experiments, researchers have shown that the warming of the tropical Indian Ocean relative to the other two tropical ocean basins can effectively control Walker Circulation changes in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and influence climate far beyond the Indian Ocean region.
By grouping weather systems by similar patterns rather than averaging conditions over months, seasons or years, CLEX researchers found that between Australia and Antarctica, the ‘doughnut’ structure of SAM is split into multiple ‘flavours’ and is more likely to have ‘bite marks’ out of it than be a perfect ring.
Using ocean model simulations, this study demonstrates that the unusual behaviour of Indian Ocean temperatures over the past 60 years was mainly due to wind conditions.
Picture (above): Beach. Credit: Frank McKenna (Unsplash).
All data sources agree that positive IOD events are becoming stronger and occur more often and that the mean-state of the Indian Ocean is moving towards a more positive IOD-like state due to enhanced warming in the west compared to the east.
Kim Reid had a very fruitful conference at AMOS 2020, but she also had two panic attacks. Here she talks about living with these attacks and how someone in a similar situation can navigate and still get plenty of benefits from crowded conferences.