Statistical relationship between two types of El Nio events and climate variation over the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

Recently, a new type of El Nio (Warm-Pool El Nio) is more often observed than the conventional El Nio (Cold-Tongue El Nio); each has a distinctive spatial pattern. The two types of El Nio have different teleconnections; therefore their impacts on a specific region can be considerably different. In this study, we focus on statistical relationship between climate variation in Korea and the two types of El Nio. When the two types of El Nio are not separately considered, the statistical relation between climate variables in Korea and the El Nio events is weak in general. When the two types of El Nio are separately considered, however, each type exhibits significant relationship with climate variation in Korea. Therefore, consideration of two types of El Nio separately can potentially improve climate prediction over the Korean Peninsula.