Fig. 8: Schematic of the Pan–Pacific–Atlantic decadal connection.
From: Synchronous decadal climate variability in the tropical Central Pacific and tropical South Atlantic
The CP ENSO-like decadal SST anomalies (red shading on the map) enhance local atmospheric deep convection (gray cloud-like shading) and drive low-level atmospheric circulation changes (purple ellipses), with cyclonic (solid) and anticyclonic (dashed) circulation anomalies marked with “C” and “AC”. The green arching arrow indicates the extratropical teleconnection pathway, where wave energy propagates from the Pacific to the South Atlantic. Low-level easterly anomalies on the northern flank of the subtropical South Atlantic anticyclonic circulation cool local SST anomalies (blue shading on the map) mainly through wind-evaporation SST (WES) and TF in subtropical and near-equatorial regions, respectively. The warm TT signal driven by the Pacific decadal SST anomaly manifests as a coupled Kelvin–Rossby response in the middle to upper levels (red shading above the map), which decays rapidly away from the Pacific heating center and has a weak warming effect on the tropical South Atlantic SST.
