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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 24, 2221, doi:10.1029/2002GL015743, 2002

Midlatitude circulation patterns associated with decadal and interannual Pacific Ocean variability

Oliver W. Frauenfeld

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA


Robert E. Davis

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA


Abstract

The exact nature of the interaction between the Pacific Ocean and the climate of the Northern Hemisphere is still in large part uncertain. To investigate these interactions, canonical correlation analysis is applied to relate midlatitude atmospheric circulation variability with Pacific Ocean SST variability. The leading mode corresponds closely to decadal PDO-like variability and the second mode is comparable to ENSO. Consequently, we identified different atmospheric circulation patterns related to the spatially similar, but temporally different modes of SST variability. Circulation variability over Eurasia is linked with the decadal SST variability, while the interannual SST variability is linked to circulation variability over the eastern Pacific. This suggests that decadal SST variability, in part, could be forced by the atmosphere. Furthermore, while the PDO switched back into its negative phase in the late 1990s, the decadal SST variability as related to circulation did not. Instead, the interannual mode has shifted into a negative phase, indicating a change in the nature of ocean-atmosphere interaction in the late 1990s.

Published 28 December 2002.

Index Terms: 3339 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504); 3319 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: General circulation; 3309 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Climatology (1620).

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Citation: Frauenfeld, O. W., and R. E. Davis (2002), Midlatitude circulation patterns associated with decadal and interannual Pacific Ocean variability, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(24), 2221, doi:10.1029/2002GL015743.