DOI 10.1007/s00382-010-0807-1 Atmospheric circulation anomalies during two persistent north american droughts: 1932–1939 and 1948–1957
Abstract We use an early twentieth century (1908–1958) atmospheric reanalysis, based on assimilation of surface and sea level pressure observations, to contrast atmospheric circulation during two periods of persistent drought in North America: 1932–1939 (the ‘Dust Bowl’) and 1948– 1957. Primary forc...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2009
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.177.7297 http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/pub/seager/Cook_etal_2010.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract We use an early twentieth century (1908–1958) atmospheric reanalysis, based on assimilation of surface and sea level pressure observations, to contrast atmospheric circulation during two periods of persistent drought in North America: 1932–1939 (the ‘Dust Bowl’) and 1948– 1957. Primary forcing for both droughts is believed to come from anomalous sea surface temperatures (SSTs): a warm Atlantic and a cool eastern tropical Pacific. For boreal winter (October–March) in the 1950s, a stationary wave pattern originating from the tropical Pacific is present, with positive centers over the north Pacific and north Atlantic ocean basins and a negative center positioned over northwest North America and the tropical/subtropical Pacific. This wave train is largely absent for the 1930s drought; boreal winter height anomalies are organized |
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