Global Climate Variations Connected with Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean for the 1958–73 Period

Abstract

The sea surface temperature anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean are shown to demarcate a “key region” new 130°W for observed variations in the global general circulation. Various techniques are used to describe global conditions during warm and cold sea surface conditions in the key region based on a global 15-year set of surface and upper air analyses. Earlier work is confirmed that during warm episodes 1) the westerly jets in both hemispheres are strengthened, and 2) some of the semi-permanent circulation features, such as the intertropical convergence zone, the subtropical high over the western and central Pacific, and the Aleutian low, increase in strength, and vice versa for cold episodes. The time series of monthly-mean atmospheric temperature averaged over the entire man of the Northern Hemisphere is found to be highly correlated with the sea surface temperature anomalies in the key region. The highest correlation of r = 0.65 is found when the atmosphere lags the ocean by 6 months. The maximum temperature response seems to occur in the upper troposphere in the tropics probably associated with variations in convective activity.