Impacts of the tropical Indian and Atlantic Oceans on ENSO

The impacts of the tropical Indian and Atlantic Oceans on ENSO are studied using a series of 500 years long GCM simulations, in which the tropical Indian and/or Atlantic Ocean SSTs are fixed. The results indicate that the tropical Indian and/or Atlantic Oceans SST anomalies substantially influence the coupling over the equatorial Pacific. In the absence of SST variability in the tropical Indian and/or Atlantic Ocean, the main ENSO period is shifted by almost one year. The total SST variance in the equatorial Pacific region is reduced if either Indian or Atlantic Ocean variability is present. At the same time the atmospheric ENSO teleconnections are damped more strongly than the SST. The results can be understood in the context of the recharge oscillator model. However, it is difficult to verify the feedback of the Indian and/or Atlantic Oceans onto ENSO only with statistical analyses of the coupled model control integration or observations.