Impact of the central Pacific zonal wind divergence and convergence on the central Pacific El Nino event

The central Pacific (CP) zonal wind divergence and convergence indices are defined, and the forming mechanism of CP El Nino (La Nina) events is discussed preliminarily. The results show that the divergence and convergence of the zonal wind anomaly (ZWA) are the key process in the forming of CP El Nino (La Nina) events. A correlation analysis between the central Pacific zonal wind divergence and convergence indices and central Pacific El Nino indices indicates that there is a remarkable lag correlation between them. The central Pacific zonal wind divergence and convergence indices can be used to predict the CP events. Based on these results, a linear regression equation is obtained to predict the CP El Nino (La Nina) events 5 months ahead.