over broad regions for several months. Examination of the corresponding top-of-the-atmosphere net
radiative fluxes shows that it is primarily the surface fluxes from the ocean to the atmosphere that feed the divergent atmospheric
transports. A systematic investigation of the covariability of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the divergence of atmospheric
energy transport, using singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis of the temporal covariance, reveals ENSO as dominant in
the first two modes, explaining 62% and 12% of the covariance in the Pacific domain and 39.5 and 15.4% globally, respectively.
The first mode is well represented by the time series for the SST index for Niņo 3.4 region (170-120W, 5N to 5 S).
Regression analysis allows a more complete view of how the SSTs, outgoing longwave radiation, precipitation, diabatic heating
and the atmospheric circulation respond with ENSO. The second mode indicates aspects of the systematic evolution of ENSO
with time, with strong lead and lag correlations. It primarily reflects differences in the evolution of ENSO across the tropical
Pacific from about the dateline to coastal South America. High SSTs associated with warm ENSO events are damped through
surface heat fluxes into the atmosphere which transports the energy into higher latitudes and throughout the tropics, contributing
to loss of heat by the ocean, while the cold ENSO events correspond to a recharge phase as heat enters the ocean. Diabatic
processes are clearly important within ENSO evolution.