Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publication Date
2 June 2023

ENSO Diversity and the Simulation of its Teleconnections to Winter Precipitation Extremes Over the US in High Resolution Earth System Models

Authors

Author

Accounting for the diversity in El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)'s spatial pattern, with the novel ENSO longitudinal index (ELI), we evaluate the simulation of its teleconnections to US winter precipitation extremes by seven global high-resolution (HR) Earth System Models (ESM). Six (four) HR ESMs simulate the observed increase in precipitation extremes over Southwest US (Southeast US) during ELI-defined El Niño events better than their low-resolution counterparts, which are low-biased. The stronger ENSO-dependence over the Southwest US and Southeast US in those models is associated with an improved simulation of moisture flux into the regions and/or storm track activity there. HR ESMs, however, generally overestimate the increase in precipitation extremes over the Pacific-Northwest during La Niña events. Model bias there is associated with bias in moisture transport into the region during La Niña events, which is amplified by the enhanced vertical mass fluxes in HR.

Mahajan, Salil, Linsey S. Passarella, Qi Tang, Noel D. Keen, Peter M. Caldwell, Luke P. van Roekel, and Jean‐Christophe Golaz. 2023. “Enso Diversity And The Simulation Of Its Teleconnections To Winter Precipitation Extremes Over The Us In High Resolution Earth System Models”. Geophysical Research Letters 50 (11). American Geophysical Union (AGU). doi:10.1029/2022gl102657.
Funding Program Area(s)
Additional Resources:
ALCC
NERSC