Analysis of time series of standardized anomalies of sea surface temperature and outgoing longwave radiation from the western Pacific warm pool revealed two distinct modes of atmosphere-ocean interaction. A statistically binding positive feedback relationship between convection and ocean temperature exists over the equatorial region surrounding the international date line. Here, the contemporaneous feedback between the/se two variables is not statistically significant. A causal order from the ocean temperature to outgoing longwave radiation is detected in a region of the Southwest Pacific, where ocean patches with temperatures greater than or equal to 29.75° C form most frequently. Dynamical implications associated with the aforementioned feedback relationship and causal order are illustrated by estimating the impact of a sudden transient LTJ.crease in convection on future values of sea surface temperature and vice versa
