UC Irvine

This study finds that the El Niño influences on the summer Great Plains low-level jet (GPLLJ) are different for the Central Pacific (CP) and Eastern Pacific (EP) types during their decaying phases. While the CP El Niño induces negative sea level pressure anomalies over the Gulf of Mexico to drive anomalous northerly winds weakening the GPLLJ, the EP El Niño intensifies the GPLLJ by inducing anomalous surface air temperature gradient between the northeastern and southwestern United States. The recent emerging CP El Niño can weaken the GPLLJ to lead to a drier environment in the central United States.