The forecast model is the
neural-dynamical hybrid coupled model with the
assimilation of the NCEP sea level height anomaly data (Tang and
Hsieh, 2002).
Fig 1 shows our latest forecasts (initialized using data till the end of
November, 2002),
indicating that that the
El Nino warming will grow in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific
Ocean until the spring of 2003, decaying from spring to fall, and
returning to near normal conditions by next winter.
Fig.1 Predicted SSTA of the tropical Pacific. Contour
interval is 0.25 degree Celsius, with positive anomalies indicated by
solid contours, negative anomalies by dashed contours, and zero by thick
contours. Positive anomalies above 1
degree are shaded in red, and negative anomalies below -1 degree are in
green. The zero contour is in purple.