Work

Interdecadal interactions between the tropics and midlatitudes in the Pacific Basin

Year: 1999

Type: article

Abstract: Analysis of global climate model simulations and observations suggest decadal, midlatitude changes in and over the North Pacific cause decadal modulation of the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation. This coupling between the two geographic regions is via atmospheric, not oceanographic, teleconnections. In essence, large scale changes in the circulation of the atmosphere over the Pacific Basin, while largest in midlatitudes, have a significant projection onto the wind field overlying the equatorial regions. These low frequency wind changes precondition the mean state of the thermocline in the equatorial ocean to produce prolonged periods of enhanced or reduced ENSO activity. The midlatitude variability that drives equatorial impacts is of stochastic origin and, although the magnitude of the signal is enhanced by ocean processes, likely unpredictable.

Source: Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: 10.1029/1999gl900042

Authors: Tim P. Barnett, David W. Pierce, Mojib Latif, Dietmar Dommenget, R. Saravanan

Institutions: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

Language: English

Topic: Climate variability and models

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum, European Commission