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<p>Tropical Instability Waves (TIWs) are prominent, cusp-shaped and westward-propagating mesoscale features in the tropical Pacific that interact closely with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). While TIW activity is modulated by ENSO, typically enhanced during La Niña and suppressed during El Niño, TIWs can in turn influence ENSO development and marine ecosystems through anomalous heating and nutrient transport. Using a suite of high-resolution reanalysis datasets, this study reveals that TIWs exhibit distinct spatiotemporal characteristics under different ENSO types, with enhanced activity during central Pacific La Niña and suppressed variability during eastern Pacific El Niño events. TIW-related eddy energy budget analysis shows that the intensity and zonal location of TIW activity are regulated by ENSO-dependent changes in sea surface temperature gradients and background zonal currents. In turn, TIWs exert a crucial, negative and equatorially confined oceanic nonlinear dynamical heating feedback on the growth of both ENSO types, with a magnitude comparable to thermocline and zonal advection feedbacks. In addition, TIWs significantly influence upper-ocean biogeochemistry by modulating surface chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen variability through both vertical and horizontal transport processes, with clear interannual contrasts across ENSO types. These findings highlight the important role of TIWs in regulating both tropical Pacific climate and upper-ocean biogeochemical variability. Therefore, improving the understanding of TIW-ENSO-ecosystem interactions is essential for predicting climate impacts on marine environments under future warming.</p>

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Contrasting responses and feedbacks of tropical instability waves to eastern-pacific and central-pacific ENSO types

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月16日

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  • Yuxuan Xiong,
  • Aoyun Xue,
  • Wenjun Zhang,
  • Julien Boucharel

摘要

Tropical Instability Waves (TIWs) are prominent, cusp-shaped and westward-propagating mesoscale features in the tropical Pacific that interact closely with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). While TIW activity is modulated by ENSO, typically enhanced during La Niña and suppressed during El Niño, TIWs can in turn influence ENSO development and marine ecosystems through anomalous heating and nutrient transport. Using a suite of high-resolution reanalysis datasets, this study reveals that TIWs exhibit distinct spatiotemporal characteristics under different ENSO types, with enhanced activity during central Pacific La Niña and suppressed variability during eastern Pacific El Niño events. TIW-related eddy energy budget analysis shows that the intensity and zonal location of TIW activity are regulated by ENSO-dependent changes in sea surface temperature gradients and background zonal currents. In turn, TIWs exert a crucial, negative and equatorially confined oceanic nonlinear dynamical heating feedback on the growth of both ENSO types, with a magnitude comparable to thermocline and zonal advection feedbacks. In addition, TIWs significantly influence upper-ocean biogeochemistry by modulating surface chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen variability through both vertical and horizontal transport processes, with clear interannual contrasts across ENSO types. These findings highlight the important role of TIWs in regulating both tropical Pacific climate and upper-ocean biogeochemical variability. Therefore, improving the understanding of TIW-ENSO-ecosystem interactions is essential for predicting climate impacts on marine environments under future warming.