Using the sea surface temperature （SST） predicted for the equatorial Pacific Ocean by the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model-gamil （FGOALS-g）, an analysis of the prediction errors was performed for the seasonally dependent predictability of SST anomalies both for neutral years and for the growth/decay phase of El Nino/La Nina events. The study results indicated that for the SST predictions relating to the growth phase and the decay phase of El Nino events, the prediction errors have a seasonally dependent evolution. The largest increase in errors occurred in the spring season, which indicates that a prominent spring predictability barrier （SPB） occurs during an El Nino-Southern Oscillation （ENSO） warming episode. Furthermore, the SPB associated with the growth-phase prediction is more prominent than that associated with the decay-phase prediction. However, for the neutral years and for the growth and decay phases of La Nifia events, the SPB phenomenon was less prominent. These results indicate that the SPB phenomenon depends extensively on the ENSO events themselves. In particular, the SPB depends on the phases of the ENSO events. These results may provide useful knowledge for improving ENSO forecasting.
By applying the historical-run outputs from 24 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5(CMIP5) models and the NOAA Extended Reconstructed SST V3 b dataset(ERSST), the characteristics of different types of ENSO in the selected CMIP5 models, including cold-season-matured Eastern Pacific(C-EP) ENSO, warmseason-matured EP(W-EP) ENSO, cold-season-matured Central Pacific(C-CP) ENSO, and warm-season-matured CP(W-CP) ENSO, were examined in comparison with those in the ERSST dataset. The results showed that, in general, consistent with observations, EP ENSO events in most of the model runs were relatively much stronger than CP ENSO events, and cold-season-matured ENSO events were relatively much more frequent than warm-season-matured ENSO events for both EP and CP ENSO events. The composite amplitudes of ENSO events in most of the models were generally weaker than in observations, particularly for EP El Ni?o and CP La Ni?a. Moreover, most of the models successfully reproduced the amplitude asymmetries between El Ni?o and La Ni?a for cold-season-matured EP and CP ENSO events, exhibiting an average stronger/weaker EP El Ni?o/La Ni?a regime and a weaker/stronger CP El Ni?o/La Ni?a regime. Most of the models, however, failed to reproduce the observed regimes of stronger/weaker W-EP El Ni?o/ La Ni?a and weaker/stronger W-CP El Ni?o/La Ni?a.
In this study, the upper ocean heat content （OHC） variations in the South China Sea （SCS） during 1993- 2006 were investigated by examining ocean temperatures in seven datasets, including World Ocean Atlas 2009 （WOA09） （climatology）, Ishii datasets, Ocean General Circulation ModeI for the Earth Simulator （OFES）, Simple Ocean Data Assimilation system （SODA）, Global Ocean Data Assimilation System （GODAS）, China Oceanic ReAnalysis system （CORA） , and an ocean reanalysis dataset for the joining area of Asia and Indian-Pacific Ocean （AIPO1.0）. Among these datasets, two were independent of any numerical model, four relied on data assimilation, and one was generated without any data assimilation. The annual cycles revealed by the seven datasets were similar, but the interannual variations were different. Vertical structures of temperatures along the 18~N, 12.75~N, and 120~E sections were compared with data collected during open cruises in 1998 and 2005-08. The results indicated that Ishii, OFES, CORA, and AIPO1.0 were more consistent with the observations. Through systematic shortcomings and advantages in presenting the upper comparisons, we found that each dataset had its own OHC in the SCS.
Diagnosis of changes in the winter stratospheric circulation in the Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project （CMIP5） scenarios simulated by the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, second version spectrum （FGOALS-s2）, indicates that the model can generally reproduce the present climatology of the stratosphere and can capture the general features of its long-term changes during 1950-2000, including the global stratospheric cooling and the strengthening of the westerly polar jet, though the simulated polar vortex is much cooler, the jet is much stronger, and the projected changes are generally weaker than those revealed by observation data. With the increase in greenhouse gases （GHGs） effect in the historical simu- lation from 1850 to 2005 （called the HISTORICAL run） and the two future projections for Representative Concentration Pathways （called the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios） from 2006 to 2100, the stratospheric response was generally steady, with an increasing stratospheric cooling and a strengthening polar jet ex- tending equatorward. Correspondingly, the leading oscillation mode, defined as the Polar Vortex Oscillation （PVO）, exhibited a clear positive trend in each scenario, confirming the steady strengthening of the polar vortex. However, the positive trend of the PVO and the strengthening of the polar jet were not accompa- nied by decreased planetary-wave dynamical heating, suggesting that the cause of the positive PVO trend and the polar stratospheric cooling trend is probably the radiation cooling effect due to increase in GHGs. Nevertheless, without the long-term linear trend, the temporal variations of the wave dynamic heating, the PVO, and the polar stratospheric temperature are still closely coupled in the interannual and decadal time scales.
A parallel comparison is made of the circulation climatology and the leading oscillation mode of the northern winter stratosphere among six reanalysis products and 24 CMIP5 （Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5） models. The results reveal that the NCEP/NCAR, NECP/DOE, ERA40, ERA-Interim and JRA25 reanalyses are quite consistent in describ- ing the climatology and annual cycle of the stratospheric circulation. The 20CR reanalysis, however, exhibits a remarkable ＂cold pole＂ bias accompanied by a much stronger stratospheric polar jet, similar as in some CMIP5 models. Compared to the 1-2 month seasonal drift in most coupled general circulation models （GCMs）, the seasonal cycle of the stratospheric zonal wind in most earth system models （ESMs） agrees very well with reanalysis. Similar to the climatology, the amplitude of Polar Vortex Oscillation （PVO） events also varies among CMIP5 models. The P^O amplitude in most GCMs is relatively weaker than in reanalysis, while that in most of the ESMs is more realistic. In relation to the ＂cold pole＂ bias and the weaker oscillation in some CMIP5 GCMs, the frequency of PVO events is significantly underestimated by CMIP5 GCMs; while in most ESMs, it is comparable to that in reanalysis. The PVO events in reanalysis （except in 20CR） mainly occur from mid-winter to early spring （January-March）; but in some of the CMIP5 models, a l-2 month delay exists, especially in most of the CMIP5 GCMs. The long-term trend of the PVO time series does not correspond to long-term changes in the frequency of PVO events in most of the CMIP5 models.
The characteristic changes of South Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies （SSTAs） for the period January 1979 to December 2011, during which the 1990s Pacific pan-decadal variability （PDV） interdecadal regime shifts occurred, were examined. Empirical Orthogonal Function （EOF） analysis was applied to the monthly mean SSTA for two sub-periods： January 1979 to December 1994 （P 1） and January 1996 to December 2011 （P2）. Both the spatial and temporal features of the leading EOF mode for P1 and P2 showed a remarkable difference. The spatial structure of the leading EOF changed from a tripolar pattern for P 1 （EOF-P 1） to a dipole-like pattern for P2 （EOF-P2）. Besides, EOF-P 1 （EOF-P2） had significant spectral peaks at 4.6 yr （2.7 yr）. EOF-P2 not only had a closer association with E1 Nifio-Southern Oscillation （ENSO）, but also showed a faster response to ENSO than EOF-P1 based on their lead-lag relationships with ENSO. During the development of ENSO, the South Pacific SSTA associated with ENSO for both PI and P2 showed a significant eastward propagation. However, after the peak of ENSO, EOF-P1 showed a stronger persistence than EOF-P2, which still showed eastward propagation. The variability of the SSTA associated with the whole process of ENSO evolution during P1 and the SSTA associated with the development of ENSO during P2 support the existence of ocean-to-atmosphere forcing, but the SSTA associated with the decay of ENSO shows the phenomenon of atmosphere-to-ocean forcing.
