Differing from the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) that has sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) of opposing signs over the tropical southeastern and western Indian Ocean, a tripole pattern, characterized by positive (negative) SSTAs over the tropical central (southeastern and western) Indian Ocean, is observed and named the Indian Ocean tripole (IOT). This study proposes the concept of the IOT and further investigates the associated atmospheric and oceanic processes. Using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, the IOT (IOD) is represented by the third (second) leading mode of the monthly SSTAs in the tropical Indian Ocean, explaining about 8.2% (10.3%) of the total variance. The IOT peaks in boreal summer, while the IOD has its mature phase in boreal fall. The spatio-temporal differences, together with the significant separation of these two EOF patterns, illustrate that the IOT is independent of the IOD. Heat budget diagnoses indicate that the anomalous temperature over the southeastern and western Indian Ocean is mainly generated by the net heat flux during April–May and by the total ocean advection in June–August. In contrast, the anomalous temperature is mainly driven by the advection of the mean temperature by the anomalous current in April and the residual term in May–June over the central Indian Ocean, which is replaced by advection of the anomalous temperature by the mean zonal current in July.

与印度洋偶极子（IOD）不同，印度洋偶极子（SSTA）在印度洋东南部和西印度洋上具有相反的迹象，这是一个三重格局，其特征是在热带中部（东南和西方）上有正（负）SSTAs观察到印度洋，并将其命名为印度洋三脚架（IOT）。这项研究提出了物联网的概念，并进一步研究了相关的大气和海洋过程。使用经验正交函数（EOF）分析，IOT（IOD）由热带印度洋月度SSTA的第三（第二）领先模式表示，解释了总方差的8.2％（10.3％）。物联网在北方夏季达到顶峰，而物联网在成熟阶段则处于北方下降时期。时空差异，结合这两种EOF模式的显着分离，说明了IOT独立于IOD。热预算诊断表明，印度洋东南部和西部的异常温度主要是由4月至5月的净热通量和6月至8月的总海洋平流引起的。相比之下，异常温度主要由印度洋中部4月的异常电流对流平均温度和5月至6月中部洋上的剩余项对流驱动，取而代之的是平均纬向海流对温度的平均对流。在七月。热收支诊断表明，印度洋东南部和西部的异常温度主要由4月至5月的净热通量和6月至8月的总海洋平流引起。相比之下，异常温度主要由印度洋中部4月的异常电流对流平均温度和5月至6月中部洋上的剩余项对流驱动，取而代之的是平均纬向海流对温度的平均对流。在七月。热预算诊断表明，印度洋东南部和西部的异常温度主要是由4月至5月的净热通量和6月至8月的总海洋平流引起的。相比之下，异常温度主要由印度洋中部4月的异常电流对流平均温度和5月至6月中部洋上的剩余项对流驱动，取而代之的是平均纬向海流对温度的平均对流。在七月。