Atmospheric Teleconnections From the Equatorial Pacific¹

The “high index” response of the northeast Pacific westerlies to big positive anomalies of equatorial sea temperature, observed in the winter of 1957–58, has been found to repeat during the major equatorial sea temperature maxima in the winters of 1963–64 and 1965–66. The 1963 positive temperature anomaly started early enough to exert the analogous effect on the atmosphere of the south Indian Ocean during its winter season. The maxima of the sea temperature in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific occur as a result of anomalous weakening of the trade winds of the Southern Hemisphere with inherent weakening of the equatorial upwelling. These anomalies are shown to be closely tied to the “Southern Oscillation” of Sir Gilbert Walker.