Low Cloud–SST Variability over the Summertime Subtropical Northeast Pacific: Role of Extratropical Atmospheric Modes

Abstract Over the subtropical Northeast Pacific (NEP), highly reflective low clouds interact with underlying sea surface temperature (SST) to constitute a local positive feedback. Recent modeling studies showed that, together with wind–evaporation–SST (WES) feedback, the summertime low cloud–SST feedback promotes nonlocal trade wind variations, modulating subsequent evolution of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study aims to identify drivers of summertime low-cloud variations, using satellite observations and global atmosphere model simulations forced with observed SST. A transbasin teleconnection is identified, where the north tropical Atlantic (NTA) warming induced by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) increases precipitation, exciting warm Rossby waves that extend into the NEP. The resultant enhancement of static stability promotes summertime low cloud–SST variability. By regressing out the effects of the preceding ENSO and NTA SST, atmospheric internal variability over the extratropical North Pacific, including the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO), is found to drive the NEP cooling by latent heat loss and subsequent summer low cloud–SST variability. With the help of the background trade winds and WES feedback, the SST anomalies extend southwestward from the low-cloud region, accompanied by ENSO in the following winter. This suggests the nonlocal effects of low clouds identified by recent studies. Analysis of a 500-yr climate model simulation corroborates the NTA and NPO forcing of NEP low cloud–SST variability and subsequent ENSO.