Centroid motion of the Western Pacific warm pool during three recent El Nino Southern Oscillation events

The centroid motion of the Western Pacific warm pool for 1982-83, 1986-87 and 1991-93 El Nino-Southern Oscillation events was investigated by analyzing satellite multichannel sea surface temperature and satellite pathfinder sea surface temperature data in conjunction with wind data from The Florida State University. The authors found that the direction of motion of the warm pool's center changes shortly before the onset of a new El Nino event and that this change was quite different during the 1991-93 El Nino than during the 1982-83 and 1986-87 El Nino events. The possible cause of these changes and differences may be the El Nino-related wind pattern shifts in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean before and during the events, and the seasonal phase-lock of the El Nino events.