Tropical
Highlights - February 2022
During February
2022, sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) remained below-average across the east-central
and eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T18). The latest monthly Niņo indices based on
OISSTV2.1 were -1.4C for the Niņo 1+2 region, -0.7C for
the Niņo 3.4 region and -0.2C for the Niņo 4 region (Fig. T5, Table T2). The depth of
the oceanic thermocline (measured by the depth of the 20C isotherm) was above-average
across much of the equatorial Pacific and below-average in the far eastern
equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15, T16). The
corresponding sub-surface temperatures were 1-3C below-average in the far
eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T17).
Also during February, the
lower-level easterly winds were above-average across 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 enhanced
near 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