Interactions Between ENSO and Tropical Landcover Change

Recent research has indicated that historical landcover changes in the tropics and in southeast Asia in particular cause similar magnitude circulation changes as seen in the alternating phases of climatological ENSO. By affecting the tropical divergent circulation, these changes have global reach. Because most observed changes in climate in recent decades are associated with shifts in circulation regime and because landcover change in the tropics appears to have the ability to generate similar magnitude circulation changes as those observed, the non-linear interactions between ENSO and landcover change generated circulation shifts is an important question. We will present results from ensemble general climate model simulations showing circulation changes due to tropical landcover changes; changes due to El Nino-like SST anomalies and circulation changes due to a combination of both effects. We address the possibility that landcover changes have made the El Nino phase of ENSO more likely and whether landcover changes have affected ENSO/Asian monsoon dynamics.