Ocean mesoscale turbulence shaping El Niño Southern Oscillation

El Niño and La Niña are the primary phases of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation), a significant ocean-atmosphere interaction pattern that occurs every few years and impacts global climate with consequences that often affect millions and makes news headlines. These events are intrinsically coupled atmosphere-ocean phenomena. Both atmospheric forcings like weakening of Easterly Tradewinds and oceanic waves like Kelvin waves are well understood but not so much the contribution of oceanic eddies towards ENSO’s variability. Typical IPCC-class climate models do not have the adequate horizontal resolution to resolve the ocean’s mesoscale eddies; typically they include parameterisations to encapsulate the ocean eddies effect. In this project, we would to investigate the role of ocean eddies and ocean dynamics in shaping up El Niños and La Niñas in the Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean. We will utilise global ocean-sea ice model output at various resolutions that either (i) fully resolve the ocean mesoscale eddies or (ii) have coarse resolution (like IPCC-class models) and require an ocean mesoscale parameterisation. You will learn to analyse large datasets (ocean model output) using a diverse set of tools and statistical techniques. You will also learn about ENSO and its dynamics and will gain a fundamental understanding of coupled atmosphere-ocean processes. —