Tropical
Highlights - August 2021
During August
2021, sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) were near-to-below average across much
of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T18). The latest monthly
Niņo indices were +0.2C for the Niņo 1+2
region, -0.4C
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 below-average
across the eastern equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15,
T16). The
corresponding sub-surface temperatures were 1-4C below-average (Fig. T17).
Also during August, the lower-level
easterly winds and the upper-level westerly winds were above-average over the
western equatorial Pacific (Table T1, Fig. T20, Fig. T21). Meanwhile,
tropical convection was suppressed across the western and central equatorial
Pacific and enhanced over Indonesia (Figs.
T25, E3).
Collectively, these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies reflected ENSO-neutral 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