资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the tropical north Atlantic has far-reaching climate impacts, especially in causing weather extremes in the Atlantic Ocean-rim countries. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can drive the tropical north Atlantic warming/cooling via the trans-basin atmospheric bridge mechanism, yet how this inter-basin connection will respond to greenhouse warming is unclear. Here, we find an enhanced eastern Pacific ENSO-tropical north Atlantic connection under greenhouse warming using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) multi-model projections. This enhanced connection is attributed to the strengthened Pacific-to-Atlantic atmospheric bridge mechanism due to a faster warming in the tropical eastern Pacific than tropical Atlantic under greenhouse warming. Thus, ENSO-induced anomalous tropical north Atlantic warming/cooling and its related weather extremes are expected to increase in the future.