Electromagnetic characteristics of ENSO

Abstract

The motion of electrically conducting sea water through Earth's magnetic field induces secondary electromagnetic fields. Due to its periodicity, the oceanic tidally induced magnetic field is easily distinguishable in magnetic field measurements and therefore detectable. These tidally induced signatures in the electromagnetic fields are also sensitive to changes in oceanic temperature and salinity distributions. We investigate the impact of oceanic heat and salinity changes related to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on oceanic tidally induced magnetic fields. Synthetic hydrographic data containing characteristic ENSO dynamics have been derived from a coupled ocean–atmosphere simulation covering a period of 50 years. The corresponding tidally induced magnetic signals have been calculated with the 3-D induction solver x3dg. By means of the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI), based on sea surface temperature anomalies, and a corresponding Magnetic Niño Index (MaNI), based on anomalies in the oceanic tidally induced magnetic field at sea level, we demonstrate that evidence of developing ENSO events can be found in the oceanic magnetic fields statistically 4 months earlier than in sea surface temperatures. The analysis of the spatio-temporal progression of the oceanic magnetic field anomalies offers a deeper understanding on the underlying oceanic processes and is used to test and validate the initial findings.