Speaker
Description
The tropical Pacific variability significantly affects the global weather and climate from annual to interdecadal timescales. The El Niño Southern–Oscillation (ENSO) in this region has a direct association with extreme weather precipitation and climate anomalies across the world. Many studies have been shown that the tropical Pacific has statistically significant responses to the solar variability, especially the 11-year solar cycle. However, the response patterns are quite diverse or even contradicting, such as some studies demonstrated that the solar-induced responses in the tropical Pacific resemble ENSO, some others showed that it’s not ENSO-like but weak warming. Despite some possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the associated response, the influence of the 11-year solar cycle in the tropical Pacific is an ongoing debated topic. In my talk, I will give a general review of studies on solar impacts on ENSO and tropical Pacific climate, highlights key uncertainties and proposed mechanisms. Finally, I will talk about the potential contribution of solar variability to regional climate predictability.