Tropical
Highlights - September 2022
During September
2022, below-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) persisted across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific (Fig. T18).
The latest monthly
Niņo indices based on OISSTV2.1 were -1.1C for the Niņo 1+2 region, -0.9C for the Niņo 3.4 region and -1.0C for the Niņo 4 region (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 September, the
lower-level easterly winds were above-average across most of the equatorial
Pacific (Table T1,
Fig. T20).
Meanwhile, tropical convection was suppressed over much of the central and western
equatorial Pacific and enhanced over Indonesia (Fig. T25). 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