What question did this study set out to answer?

To describe large-scale tropical climate circulation modes and evaluate how the Southern Oscillation and related ocean-atmosphere patterns drive interannual and long-term Sahel rainfall anomalies.

February 1, 1989Journal of Climate

Modes of Tropical Circulation, Southern Oscillation, and Sahel Rainfall Anomalies

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KWKlaus WolterLeibniz University Hannover

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Implication

Empirical climate analysis reveals distinct tropical circulation modes and ocean temperature patterns governing Sahel rainfall, indicating predictable seasonal shifts six months in advance.

Key Points

To describe large-scale tropical climate circulation modes and evaluate how the Southern Oscillation and related ocean-atmosphere patterns drive interannual and long-term Sahel rainfall anomalies.
Compiled tropical ship observations encompassing sea level pressure, surface wind, cloudiness, and sea surface temperature across the Atlantic, eastern Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
Conducted orthogonally rotated principal component analysis combining all four ocean-atmosphere variables across boreal winter and summer seasons.
Identified five optimal rotated principal components per season that configure into a preferred two-year sequence initiated by the boreal summer Southern Oscillation mode.
Detected an overarching tropical climate regime shift in the late 1960s that preceded recurrent climate extremes throughout the 1970s.
Showed that the Atlantic Sahel mode drives year-to-year rainfall variability via trough displacement, whereas the global Sahel mode tracks multi-decadal drying trends and provides six-month advance predictability.

Cite This Study

Klaus Wolter (1989) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a0979a716dfdfe7ed342029 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1989)002<0149:motcso>2.0.co;2

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Implication

Empirical climate analysis reveals distinct tropical circulation modes and ocean temperature patterns governing Sahel rainfall, indicating predictable seasonal shifts six months in advance.

Modes of Tropical Circulation, Southern Oscillation, and Sahel Rainfall Anomalies

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Modes of Tropical Circulation, Southern Oscillation, and Sahel Rainfall Anomalies

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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