Causes of Decadal Climate Variability over the North Pacific and North America

The cause of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific Ocean and North America is investigated by the analysis of data from a multidecadal integration with a state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmosphere model and observations. About one-third of the low-frequency climate variability in the reg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1994-10, Vol.266 (5185), p.634-637
Main Authors: Latif, M., Barnett, T. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
540120 > Environment, Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
Atmospheric models
Atmospherics
Climate change
Climate cycles
Climate models
CLIMATES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
Climatic changes
Climatology
Earth, ocean, space
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
Gyres
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
OCEANIC CIRCULATION
Oceanic climates
Oceans
PACIFIC OCEAN
Physics of the oceans
Sea-air exchange processes
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
Tropical climates
VARIATIONS 540110
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Description
Summary:The cause of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific Ocean and North America is investigated by the analysis of data from a multidecadal integration with a state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmosphere model and observations. About one-third of the low-frequency climate variability in the region of interest can be attributed to a cycle involving unstable air-sea interactions between the subtropical gyre circulation in the North Pacific and the Aleutian low-pressure system. The existence of this cycle provides a basis for long-range climate forecasting over the western United States at decadal time scales.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.266.5185.634