Analysis of the monthly zonal index values and long‐term changes of circulation over the North Atlantic and Europe

Abstract Mean monthly zonal index ( ZI m ) values over the North Atlantic and Europe, during the period 1873–1988, are studied. The frequency distribution of the percentage occurrence of the mean monthly ZI m values and the length of the spells of low and high ZI m values show that the predominant f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Climatology
Main Authors: Makrogiannis, T. J., Sahsamanoglou, H. S., Flocas, A. A., Bloutsos, A. A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1991
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.3370110503
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.3370110503
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.3370110503
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Summary:Abstract Mean monthly zonal index ( ZI m ) values over the North Atlantic and Europe, during the period 1873–1988, are studied. The frequency distribution of the percentage occurrence of the mean monthly ZI m values and the length of the spells of low and high ZI m values show that the predominant flow over the North Atlantic is westerly, while over Europe it is meridional. Harmonic analysis is applied to the mean annual course of the ZI m values for each of the above areas, which shows that the two first components are enough to explain more than 90 per cent of the total variance. Power spectrum analysis of the mean monthly ZI m values shows significant periodicities common to both the examined areas of the order of 18 months and less. Coherence analysis also shows that both areas are better correlated in the low frequency ranges.