Tropical
Highlights - January 2022
During January
2022, sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) were below-average across the east-central
and eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T18). The latest monthly Niņo indices were -1.2°C for
the Niņo 1+2 region, -0.9°C for the Niņo 3.4 region and -0.4°C for the Niņo 4 region (Fig. T5, Table T2). The depth of
the oceanic thermocline (measured by the depth of the 20°C isotherm) was below-average
across the eastern equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15,
T16). The
corresponding sub-surface temperatures were 1-4°C below-average (Fig. T17).
Also during January, the
lower-level easterly winds were near average over much of the equatorial
Pacific and the upper-level westerly winds were above-average across the east-central
and eastern equatorial Pacific (Table T1, Fig. T20, Fig. T21). Meanwhile,
tropical convection was suppressed over the central equatorial Pacific and near
average over Indonesia (Figs. T25, E3).
Collectively, these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies were consistent with La
Niņa 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