Abstract
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 33,
L24704,
5 PP., 2006
doi:10.1029/2006GL027881
The influence of ENSO on winter North Atlantic climate
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, Met Office, Exeter, UK
National Center for Atmospheric Science-Climate, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, Met Office, Exeter, UK
Although the influence of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation on the extra-tropical climate is well established for the Pacific basin and North American regions, there is no clear consensus as to whether there are reproducible effects from ENSO on the North Atlantic and West European regions. In this study we present a revised analysis of past El-Niño teleconnections. By stratifying El-Niño events according to amplitude, we find a highly non-linear yet robust response to ENSO that changes sign over the eastern North Atlantic as the amplitude of the El-Niño anomaly increases. Results from a series of experiments with a general circulation model indicate that the response to strong ENSO events is reproducible given the sea-surface temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific. The response to moderate El-Niño events resembles the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation as found in previous studies.
Received 15 August 2006; accepted 15 November 2006; published 23 December 2006.
Citation: (2006), The influence of ENSO on winter North Atlantic climate, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L24704, doi:10.1029/2006GL027881.
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