Tropical Highlights
JUNE 2009
Forecast Forum
Sea surface temperature (SST)
anomalies continued to increase across the equatorial
Pacific Ocean
during June 2009(Fig. T18).
The latest monthly SST index was +0.6°C in the Niņo-3.4 region, and +0.7°C
in the Niņo-1+2 region (Table T2,
Fig. T5).
The oceanic thermocline along
the equator, measured by the depth of the 20°C
isotherm, remained deeper than average across the equatorial
Pacific
Ocean
during June (Figs. T15, T16).
Consistent with these conditions, temperatures were 1o-3oC
above average at thermocline depth across the equatorial Pacific (Fig. T17).
Also
during June, the low-level equatorial easterly winds (Fig. T20, Table
T1) were weaker than average across the central
and eastern equatorial
Pacific Ocean
, and convection became
increasingly suppressed over
Indonesia
(Figs.
T25, E3).
This coupling of the oceanic and atmospheric anomalies indicates the development
of El Niņo.
For
the latest status of the ENSO cycle see the ENSO Diagnostic Discussion at:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.html
|