Sensitivity of tropical climate to SST forcing

During El Nino years, there are substantial tropospheric temperature anomalies associated with the warming of sea surface temperature(SST). Precipitation and convective heating also exhibit significant anomalies due to the increased SST forcing. It is an open question to what extent the anomalies in temperature and precipitation are determined by the strength and area of warm SST ANOMALY or by the distribution of warm SST. We use the intermediate atmospheric circulation model-QTCM(quasi-equilibrium circulation model) to investigate the sensitivity of tropical climate variables to SST forcing. The tropospheric temperature and rainfall response to various SST distributions are examined to evaluate the importance of the relatively small area where anomalies occur in the region of warmest climatologically SST. The area of anomalous SST in climatologically cold region provides a comparison.