Improvements in the CMIP5 simulations of ENSO-SSTA meridional width

The recent study demonstrated the existence of a systematical narrow bias in the simulated El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) meridional width of surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) of ENSO by the models participating in Phase 3 of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP3). The current models developed for Phase 5 of the CMIP (CMIP5) still have this narrow bias in ENSO width relative to the observation, but with a modest improvement over previous models. The improvement can partly be attributed to a better simulation in trade wind, and partly to a better simulation in ENSO period. It has also been demonstrated that the models with a better performance in ENSO width tend to simulate the precipitation response to ENSO over the off-equatorial eastern Pacific more realistically. Citation: Zhang, W., and F.-F. Jin (2012), Improvements in the CMIP5 simulations of ENSO-SSTA meridional width, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L23704, doi:10.1029/2012GL053588.