The Heat Budget of the Tropical Pacific Ocean in a Simulation of the 1982–83 El Niño

The heat budget of a model that realistically simulate the 1982–83 El Niño indicates that the enormous changes in the winds during that event failed to disrupt the usual seasonal variations in meridional heat transport. Cross-equatorial transport towards the winter hemisphere continued as in a regular seasonal cycle. The key factor was the continued seasonal migrations of the ITCZ during El Niño. In early 1983 the ITCZ strayed farther south than usual and remained near the equator longer than usual thus causing an increase in the northward heat transport. This, together with an increase in the evaporative heat loss because of higher sea surface temperature, resulted in a large loss of heat from the band of latitudes approximately 12°N–12°S during El Niño.