Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2013, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (1): 1-7.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2013.01.001cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2013.01.001

Special Issue: 海上丝绸之路专题

• Marine Meteorology •     Next Articles

Research progress of southern Indian Ocean Dipole and its influence

XU Hai-ming1, ZHANG Lan1, 2, DU Yan2   

  1. 1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Environmental Dynamics, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
  • Received:2013-04-20 Revised:2013-04-20 Online:2013-04-19 Published:2013-04-20

Abstract: This paper reviews the studies on the southern Indian Ocean (SIO) air-sea interaction and summarizes the climate variability in the SIO at the inter-annual time scale. Variance and correlation analysis of the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) indicates that a strong dipole oscillation occurs in the SIO, the so-called Southern Indian Ocean Dipole (SIOD). Large-scale atmospheric circulation in the midlatitude of the Southern Hemisphere plays a role in the formation of SIOD. A subtropical anticyclonic anomaly contributes to the tropical easterly anomalies and midlatitude westerly anomalies; this results in anomalies in latent heat flux, upwelling, and Ekman heat transport, and then changes the SST. Through changing the heat distribution in the atmosphere in the South Asia and tropical Pacific, the SIOD has an impact on tropical atmospheric circulation. In particular, it remotely influences the Asian summer monsoon rainfall; for example, a close relationship is found between SIOD and rainfall over China. In addition, the anomaly induced by the SIOD can result in anticyclonic atmosphere anomalies over the South China Sea and Philippine Islands.

Key words: Southern Indian Ocean Dipole, SST, atmospheric circulation, China rainfall

CLC Number: 

  • P732