Tropical
Highlights - March 2024
During March
2024, sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) continued to decrease but remained well above-average across most of the equatorial Pacific (Fig. T18). The latest monthly
Niņo indices were +0.3C for the Nino 1+2 region,
+1.2C
for the Nino 3.4 region and +1.0C for the Nino 3 region (Table T2). The depth of the oceanic thermocline
(measured by the depth of the 20C isotherm) was below-average across the equatorial
Pacific (Figs. T15, T16).
The corresponding sub-surface
temperatures were 1-6C below-average in the far eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T17).
Also during March, lower-level wind
anomalies were easterly over west-central equatorial Pacific, while upper-level
wind anomalies were near average across the equatorial Pacific (Table T1, Figs. T20, T21). Meanwhile, tropical convection was slightly
suppressed around the Date Line and was near average around Indonesia (Fig. T25). Collectively,
these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies were consistent with weakening El Niņo
conditions.
For the latest status of the ENSO
cycle see the ENSO Diagnostic Discussion at:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.html