The missing teleconnection between the North Atlantic and the Sahel precipitation in CFSv2

• Published in: Atmospheric Science Letters
• Main Authors: Barandiaran, Daniel, Wang, Shih‐Yu
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2013
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asl2.457; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fasl2.457; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/asl2.457

Abstract This study presents new findings on the link between interannual variabilities of atmospheric circulations over the North Atlantic and precipitation over the African Sahel ( P S ). Our analysis shows a meridionally stratified circulation wave train resembling the East Atlantic ( EA ) mode, apparently connected to P S through Rossby wave dispersion in the middle troposphere originating from the North Atlantic. However, the Climate Forecast System version 2 fails to depict the EA and its P S impact. Because the EA explains 29% of variance of P S , this portion of P S variability is either missing in the seasonal forecast, or being made up by an alternative process .