Tropical-North Pacific Climate Linkages Over the Past Four Centuries

• Main Authors: Rob Wilson, Clara Deser, Gregory Wiles, Edward Cook, Er Tudhope, Julia Cole, Braddock Linsley
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Indian; Pacific; aleutian low
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.383.8466; http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/cdeser/Docs/jclim_darrigo-npi.pdf

Instrumental analyses demonstrate robust linkages between decadal-scale North Pacific and tropical Indo-Pacific climate variability. These linkages encompass common regime shifts, including the noteworthy 1976 transition in Pacific climate. However, information on Pacific Decadal Variability and the tropical-high latitude climate connection is limited prior to the 20 th century. Herein tree-ring analysis is employed to extend understanding of North Pacific climate variability and related tropical linkages over the past four centuries. To this end, a tree-ring reconstruction of the December-May North Pacific Index (NPI)- an index of the atmospheric circulation related to the Aleutian Low Pressure Cell- is presented (1600-1983). The NPI reconstruction shows evidence for the three regime shifts seen in the instrumental NPI data, and for seven events in prior centuries. It correlates significantly with both instrumental tropical climate indices and a coral-based reconstruction of an optimal tropical Indo-Pacific climate index, supporting evidence for a tropical/North Pacific link extending as far west as the western Indian Ocean. The coral-based reconstruction (1781-1993) shows the 20 th century regime shifts evident in the instrumental NPI and instrumental tropical Indo-Pacific climate index, and three previous