Precipitation, temperature, and moisture transport variations associated with two distinct ENSO flavors during 1979–2014

Interannual precipitation and temperature variations during 1979–2014 are investigated by examining the effects of two distinct flavors of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), i.e., the tropical eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) ENSO events. Satellite- and ground-based observations with global coverage are applied including the monthly precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) and surface temperature anomalies from the NASA-GISS surface temperature anomaly analysis. Related variations in other water-cycle components including atmospheric moisture transport are also examined by using the outputs from the NASA-Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). While the second leading mode from an EOF analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies between 30°N and 30°S is dominated by interdecadal-scale variability that is not a focus of this study, the first and third leading modes represent well the EP and CP events, respectively. The corresponding principal components (PC1 and PC3) are then applied as indices to estimate the influences of the two ENSO flavors on various physical components through linear regression. Because of their distinct SST configurations in the tropical Pacific, the two ENSO flavors manifest different spatial features of precipitation anomalies as shown in past studies. Differences can also be readily seen in satellite-retrieved tropospheric layered temperatures and oceanic columnar water vapor content. General agreements between observations and MERRA outputs can be obtained as judged by consistent respective anomalies corresponding to the two ENSO flavors, suggesting that MERRA could provide an accurate account of variations on the interannual time scale. Interannual variations in MERRA vertically integrated moisture transport (VIMT) are further examined to explore possible relations between precipitation and tropospheric moisture transport corresponding to the two flavors during two contrasting seasons: December–March (DJFM) and June–September (JJAS). Anomalies of zonal moisture transport in the deep tropics following the variations in the Pacific Walker Circulation are distinctly different for two ENSO flavors and also manifest evident seasonal variations for each flavor. Differences in the zonal mean VIMT (both zonal and meridional components) are also evident between the two flavors, consistent with the differences in zonal mean precipitation anomalies from both GPCP and MERRA. Furthermore, the ENSO flavors are associated with distinct precipitation anomaly patterns over various land areas, which can be further traced to the differences in their associated VIMT anomalies, particularly during DJFM when the warm ENSO events usually reach their mature phase.