References(24) Supplementary materials(2) Modulation of the Pacific tropical instability waves (TIWs) is investigated from 1950 to 2007 using high-resolution ocean data assimilation. So far, detecting their multi-decadal variations is difficult due to the lack of a fine-scale observation network. The results of our high-resolution general circulation model indicate that the Pacific TIW activity increased rapidly after the early 1990s, because a precedent intensified subsurface temperature front north of the cold tongue associated with the mid-1970s' climate shift positively influenced the baroclinic source. This intensified subsurface meridional temperature gradient related to a warm phase of the tropical Pacific decadal variability associated with cold anomalies along the subsurface thermocline which contribute to decay of the surface warm phase, characterized by wide-spread meridional warm anomalies and upwelled cold anomalies along the equator.
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