Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>How ENSO-related atmospheric feedbacks respond to greenhouse warming remains uncertain. Using 31 CMIP6 models, we examine how future climate conditions alter the vertical structure of ENSO-related zonal winds and their transmission to surface wind stress. The multi-model mean shows that the 850-hPa zonal-wind response to Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies strengthens by about 29% in 2070–2100 relative to 1970–2000, whereas the zonal wind-stress response increases by only about 10%. This contrast reflects weakened coupling between the lower-free-troposphere and the boundary layer. We find that models with greater mid-tropospheric moistening exhibit an upward-shifted ENSO-related ascent profile, which weakens the projection of lower-free-tropospheric wind anomalies onto the boundary layer. Wind-stress decomposition further indicates that weakening of this coupling offsets about 8% of the projected enhancement. These results identify vertical atmospheric decoupling as a damping pathway that limits amplification of ENSO-related surface wind-stress feedbacks under global warming.</bold> </p>