Most of Australia was in severe drought from 2018 to early 2020. Here we link this drought to the Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) modes associated with Central Pacific (CP) El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Over the last 20 years, the occurrence frequency of CP El Niño has increased. This study extends the previous understanding of eastern Pacific (EP) El Niño-Australian...

As a dominant pattern of the North Pacific sea surface temperature decadal variability, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has remarkable influences on the marine and terrestrial ecosystems. However, the PDO is highly unpredictable. Here, we assess the performance of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models in simulating the PDO, with an emphasis on the evaluation of CMIP6 models in reproducing a rec...