Climatic Modes and Teleconnections

• Main Author: Carleton, Andrew M.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Pacific; Antarc*; Climate change; Global warming; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0494; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2F9781118786352.wbieg0494; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0494

Recurring spatial anomaly patterns of climate variability on intraseasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales (“climatic modes”) express associations with atmospheric and oceanic circulations, modulated by land surface–atmosphere interactions. These teleconnections range in influence from global (El Niño Southern Oscillation) to hemispheric (Arctic Oscillation, Antarctic Oscillation) to continental/regional (e.g., North Atlantic Oscillation, Pacific–North America pattern), and originate both in the tropics (e.g., Madden–Julian Oscillation) and extratropics (e.g., Antarctic Circumpolar Wave). Climate variables influenced by – and characterizing – teleconnections include temperature and precipitation, sea level pressure/geopotential height, winds, outgoing longwave radiation, and sea surface temperature. The opposing (i.e., extreme) phases of a teleconnection are evident as distinct patterns of heat and cold, droughts and floods, wildfires, synoptic circulation activity (tropical cyclones, frontal cyclones), and subsynoptic weather (e.g., tornadoes, “polar lows”). Contemporary climate change (“global warming”) may be altering both the internal attributes and frequencies of teleconnections.