Tropical
Highlights - August 2023
During August
2023, sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) remained above-average across the equatorial
Pacific (Fig. T18).
The latest monthly
Niņo indices were +3.3C for the Niņo 1+2
region, +1.3C
for the Niņo 3.4 region and +2.0C for the Niņo 3 region (Table T2). The depth of the oceanic thermocline
(measured by the depth of the 20C isotherm) was above-average across the central
and eastern equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15, T16). The
corresponding sub-surface temperatures were 1-5C above-average in the far
eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T17).
Also during August, the lower-level
and upper-level winds were near average over much of the western and eastern equatorial
Pacific, while over east-central equatorial Pacific, the lower-level wind
anomalies were westerly and the upper-level wind anomalies were easterly (Table T1, Figs. T20, T21). Meanwhile, tropical convection was enhanced across
the western and central equatorial Pacific, and suppressed over Indonesia (Fig. T25). Collectively,
these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies were consistent with El Niņo conditions.
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
www.nws.noaa.gov
