Interpretation of scatterometer ocean surface wind vector EOFs over the Northwestern Pacific

Satellite scatterometer winds over the northwestern Pacific were analyzed with the vector empirical orthogonal function (VEOF) method. The Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT), a newly developed non-linear and non-stationary time series data processing method, was also employed in the analysis. A combination of European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS) −1/2 scatterometer, NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) and NASAʹs Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) winds covering the period from January 1992 to April 2000 and the area of 0–50°N, 100–148°E constitutes the baseline for this study. The results indicate that annual cycles dominate the two leading VEOF modes. The first VEOF shows the East Asian monsoon features and the second represents a spring–autumn oscillation. We removed the annual signal from the data set and calculated the interannual VEOFs. The first interannual VEOF represents the interannual variability existing in the spring–autumn oscillation. The temporal mode is correlated with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), but has a half-year lag with respect to the SOI. The spatial mode of the first interannual VEOF reflects the response of the tropical and extratropical winds to ENSO events. The second interannual VEOF is another ENSO related mode, and the temporal VEOF mode is correlated with the SOI with a correlation coefficient of 0.78, revealing the wind variability over mid-latitudes, which is associated with ENSO events. Further analysis indicated that the wind variability over the coast of East Asia represents anomalies of a Hadley cell. The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) was found in the temporal mode, indicating and verifying that the QBO in the wind fields is related to ENSO events. The third VEOF shows the interannaul variability in the winter–summer mode and displays the interannual variability of the East Asian monsoon. The three leading interannual VEOFs are statistically meaningful as confirmed by a significance test.