Surface Temperature Patterns Associated with the Southern Oscillation

The “typical” global and large-scale regional temperature patterns associated with the low (warm) and high (cold) phases of the Southern Oscillation (SO) are investigated. A total of 12 separate regions were found to have consistent temperature patterns associated with low phase of the SO, while 11 areas were found to have temperature patterns associated with the high phase. Of these areas, 9 have expected temperature patterns during both phases of the SO. In the tropics, temperature anomalies are of the same sign as the SO-related sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in all land regions except for one area in the west Pacific. Three extratropical responses to the low phase of the SO are found over North America and one is found in Japan. High SO-temperature patterns were found in the extratropies for Japan, western Europe, and northwestern North America. The identified temperature responses are more consistent in tropical regions than in the extratropies. The SO can influence the estimation of global surface temperature anomalies.