Tropical
Highlights - February 2018
Sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) during February 2018 remained below-average across the central and eastern equatorial
Pacific (Fig. T18,
Table T2). The latest monthly
Niņo indices were -0.2°C for the Niņo 4
region, -0.9°C
for the Niņo 3.4 region, and -0.6°C for the Niņo 1+2 region (Table
T2, Fig. T5). The depth of the oceanic thermocline
(measured by the depth of the 20°C isotherm) was slightly below-average over the
eastern equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15, T16), and
the corresponding sub-surface temperatures were 0-1°C below average (Fig. T17).
Also during February, the lower-level
wind anomalies were westerly across the western and central equatorial Pacific
while the upper-level westerly winds were above-average over the eastern
equatorial Pacific (Table T1, Figs. T20, T21). Meanwhile, convection was suppressed over
Indonesia and east-central equatorial Pacific and enhanced over the far western
and west-central equatorial Pacific (Figs.
T25, E3).
Collectively, these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies reflect weakening 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