The Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Its Effects

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Pacific; aleutian low
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.523.5394; http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Ocean_Multidecadal_Cycles_Temps2.pdf

IPCC AR4 did an exemplary job explaining the patterns of climate variability through global teleconnections and defining the circulation indices including the short term and decadal scale oscillations in the Pacific, and Atlantic. It noted that the decadal variability in the Pacific (the Pacific Decadal Oscillation or PDO) is likely due to oceanic processes. Extratropical ocean influences are likely to play a role as changes in the ocean gyre and Aleutian low evolve and heat anomalies are subducted and reemerge. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is thought to be due to changes in the strength of the thermohaline circulation. Though the IPCC AR4 describes some of the recent research on these phenomena, it does not draw out their importance for explaining global climate changes over multi-decadal intervals.