Enhanced winter warming in the Eastern China Coastal Waters and its relationship with ENSO

The enhanced warming observed in the Eastern China Coastal Waters (ECCW) during the last half-century has received considerable attentions. However, the reason for this warming is still a subject of debate. Based on four different Sea Surface Temperature datasets, we found that the most significant warming occurred in boreal winter during 1982-1998, although the warming trends derived from these datasets differ in magnitude. We suggest that the rapid warming during winter is a result of the asymmetry in the El Nino-Southern Oscillation teleconnection, through which El Nino events induce significant warming over the ECCW at its peak, whereas La Nina events fail to do the opposite that would completely reverse the trends; in addition, there were more El Nino than La Nina events during the recent decades. All these contribute to the winter warming during 1982-1998.