A summary of the broadscale tropical circulation from 70°E to 180°, for the six months May to October 2004, is presented. ENSO indicators showed neutral conditions early in the season. By mid yearmixed signals became evident. Throughout the season sea-surface temperatures in the eastern near-equatorial Pacific were near average. But within the vicinity of the maritime continent, mean sea-level pressures were above average, with less than average tropical convection. The warmest waters of the Pacific were located close to the near-equatorial dateline, rather then the climatological location of the northwest Pacific. Outgoing long wave radiation and mean sea-level pressure indicators over India were near average. Several active convective phases of theMadden-Julian Oscillation affected the region during the season. The periodicity remained close to the lower limit of the 30 to 60-day intraseasonal oscillation. A total of 26 tropical cyclones (16 typhoons) developed during the period, close to the mean (27) for the Darwin Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) area.
Shaik et al. (Wed,) studied this question.