American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals		 AGU Home AGU Publications

Read Full Article    Cited by

PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, VOL. 14, NO. 4, PAGES 441–456, 1999

Orbital Controls on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation and the Tropical Climate

A. C. Clement

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York


R. Seager

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York


M. A. Cane

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York


Abstract

The global synchroneity of glacial-interglacial events is one of the major problems in understanding the link between Milankovitch forcing and the climate of the late Quaternary. In this study we isolate a part of the climate system, the tropical Pacific, and test its sensitivity to changes in solar forcing associated with changes in the Earth’s orbital parameters. We use a simplified coupled ocean-atmosphere model that is run for the past 150,000 years and forced with Milankovitch changes in the solar insolation. This system responds primarily to the precessional cycle in solar forcing and is capable of generating a mean response to the changes in the seasonal distribution of solar radiation even while the annual mean insolation is roughly constant. The mean response to the precessional forcing is due to an interaction between an altered seasonal cycle and the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Changes in the ENSO behavior result in a mean tropical climate change. The hypothesis is advanced that such a change in the tropical climate can generate a globally synchronous climate response to Milankovitch forcing.

Received 8 October 1998; accepted 26 February 1999.

Read Full Article    Cited by

Citation: Clement, A. C., R. Seager, and M. A. Cane (1999), Orbital Controls on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation and the Tropical Climate, Paleoceanography, 14(4), 441–456.