Long-term variations in the physical environments in the Pacific Ocean

The SST fields in the North Pacific are directly affected to a great extent by changes in the atmospheric general circulation system, related to ENSO events. Especially, in EY winter, marked positive SST anomalies appear in the mid-latitudes of the western North Pacific and the main cause can be attributed to the weakening of the East Asian Winter Monsoon. The appearance of relatively strong negative SST anomalies in the mid-latitudes of the western North Pacific in EA winter suggests that less heat is transported to the mid-latitudes by the Kuroshio Current in the second year of ENSO events. In addition, this may also mean that an anti-ENSO phase (cold event) in mid-latitudes does not appear clearly in atmospheric elements. The difference in ways in which ENSO and anti-ENSO phases appear in mid-latitudes is one of the problems to be solved in future studies. -from Author