How well can current climate models simulate the connection of the early spring Aleutian low to the following winter ENSO?

Abstract

A recent study revealed an impact of the intensity of early spring Aleutian low (AL) on the succeeding winter ENSO. This study examines the ability of 41 climate models that participated in CMIP6 in simulating the early spring AL–winter ENSO connection. It is shown that there exists a large diversity among the models in simulating this AL–ENSO linkage. A number of models capture well the observed AL–ENSO connection and the associated physical processes. However, the AL–ENSO relation in several models is opposite to the observed. Diversity of the AL–ENSO connection is related to the spread in the spatial structure of AL-related atmospheric anomalies over the North Pacific. In the models that capture the observed AL–ENSO connection, weakened AL induces an anomalous anticyclone over the northern middle and high latitudes and an anomalous cyclone over the subtropical North Pacific. The resultant westerly wind anomalies over the tropical western-central Pacific (TWCP) induce an El Niño sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly pattern in the following winter. By contrast, in the models with the AL–ENSO relation opposite to the observations, the AL-associated anomalous anticyclone over the North Pacific extends too southward. As such, the subtropical North Pacific is dominated by northeasterly wind anomalies and SST cooling. The subtropical North Pacific SST cooling induces easterly wind anomalies over the TWCP via wind–evaporation–SST feedback, and leads to a La Niña anomaly pattern in the following winter. The spread in the spatial structure of the AL-associated atmospheric anomalies over the North Pacific is partly due to the diversity in the amplitude of the climatological mean flow.