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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 11, 1570, doi:10.1029/2003GL017345, 2003

Interannual-to-interdecadal sea surface temperature variability along the western coast of South America

A. Montecinos

Programa Regional de Oceanografía Física y Clima (PROFC), and Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Chile


S. Purca

Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Chile


O. Pizarro

DEFAO/PROFC/COPAS, Universidad de Concepción, Chile


Abstract

Interannual and interdecadal regional-scale sea surface temperature (SST) variability along Peru and Chile are described based on 9 coastal stations and global SST in the period 1951–1999. ENSO-related interannual variability dominates the low-passed time series along the coast, with maximum amplitudes in the tropics decreasing southward. At tropical latitudes interdecadal variance is about one-third of the interannual variance while they are of similar amplitude in the midlatitudes (36°S). The correlation between the low frequency coastal modes and the Pacific and Atlantic SST suggests that the coastal SST variability comprises two main large-scale climate processes: the ENSO cycle at interannual timescale, and a basin-wide, perhaps even a global-scale, interdecadal oscillation.

Received 17 March 2003; accepted 1 May 2003; published 7 June 2003.

Index Terms: 4215 Oceanography: General: Climate and interannual variability (3309); 4223 Oceanography: General: Descriptive and regional oceanography; 4522 Oceanography: Physical: El Nino.

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Citation: Montecinos, A., S. Purca, and O. Pizarro (2003), Interannual-to-interdecadal sea surface temperature variability along the western coast of South America, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(11), 1570, doi:10.1029/2003GL017345.