Journal ArticleDOI
Decadal Variability of Precipitation over Western North America
TLDR
In this paper, precipitation variations are linked to various decadal atmospheric circulation and SST anomaly patterns where scales range from regional to global scales and that emphasize tropical or extratropical connections, depending upon which precipitation region is considered.Abstract:
Decadal (>7- yr period) variations of precipitation over western North America account for 20%–50% of the variance of annual precipitation. Spatially, the decadal variability is broken into several regional [O(1000 km)] components. These decadal variations are contributed by fluctuations in precipitation from seasons of the year that vary from region to region and that are not necessarily concentrated in the wettest season(s) alone. The precipitation variations are linked to various decadal atmospheric circulation and SST anomaly patterns where scales range from regional to global scales and that emphasize tropical or extratropical connections, depending upon which precipitation region is considered. Further, wet or dry decades are associated with changes in frequency of at least a few short-period circulation “modes” such as the Pacific–North American pattern. Precipitation fluctuations over the southwestern United States and the Saskatchewan region of western Canada are associated with extensiv...read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mesoscale Disturbance and Ecological Response to Decadal Climatic Variability in the American Southwest
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors predict a wide array of biogeographic phenomena, including soil carbon pools, vegetation physiognomy, species range, and plant and animal diversity, by modulating the frequency, magnitude, and spatial scales of natural disturbances.
Journal ArticleDOI
How unusual is the 2012–2014 California drought?
TL;DR: This article used two paleoclimate reconstructions of drought and precipitation for Central and Southern California to place this current event in the context of the last millennium and demonstrate that while 3 year periods of persistent below-average soil moisture are not uncommon, the current event is the most severe drought in the last 1200 years, with single year (2014) and accumulated moisture deficits worse than any previous continuous span of dry years.
Journal ArticleDOI
Variations in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation over the past millennium
Glen M. MacDonald,Roslyn A. Case +1 more
TL;DR: This article used tree-ring chronologies from Pinus flexilis in California and Alberta to produce an AD 993-1996 reconstruction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and to assess long-term variability in the PDO's strength and periodicity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Impacts of recent El Niño Modoki on dry/wet conditions in the Pacific rim during boreal summer
Hengyi Weng,Karumuri Ashok,Swadhin K. Behera,Suryachandra A. Rao,Toshio Yamagata,Toshio Yamagata +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used 1979-2005 monthly observational data to study the impacts of El Nino Modoki on dry/wet conditions in the Pacific rim during boreal summer.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Forcing of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation
TL;DR: In this article, the authors recovered the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) from a reconstruction of North Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies based on a first-order autoregressive model and forcing by variability of the Aleutian low, El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and oceanic zonal advection anomalies in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a robust, recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the midlatitude North Pacific basin over the past century, the amplitude of this climate pattern has varied irregularly at interannual-to-interdecadal timescales.
Book
Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change
TL;DR: The most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment available for scientific understanding of human influences on the past present and future climate is "Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change" as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Teleconnections in the Geopotential Height Field during the Northern Hemisphere Winter
John M. Wallace,David S. Gutzler +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of existing literature on the subject reveals the existence of at least four such patterns: the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oscillations identified by Walker and Bliss (1932), a zonally symmetric seesaw between sea level pressures in polar and temperature latitudes, first noted by Lorenz (1951), and what we will refer to as the Pacific/North American pattern, which has been known to operational long-range forecasters in this country since the 1950's.
Journal ArticleDOI
Classification, seasonality and persistence of low-frequency atmospheric circulation patterns
TL;DR: In this article, Orthogonally rotated principle component analysis (RPCA) was used to identify and describe the seasonality and persistence of the major modes of interannual variability.
Journal ArticleDOI
ENSO-like Interdecadal Variability: 1900–93
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare the structure of the interannual variability associated with the ENSO cycle and documents its time history back to 1900, using the leading EOFs of the SST anomaly and anomaly deviation fields in various domains and the associated expansion coefficient (or principal component) time series, which are used to construct global regression maps of SST, sea level pressure (SLP), and a number of related variables.