Is the decadal variability in the tropical Atlantic a precursor to the NAO?

In the past two decades climate research in the tropical Atlantic with respect to the inter-hemispheric gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) emphasized the predominance of decadal-scale variability. Our results show that this mode of variability is prevalent only for part of the last 130-years...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annales Geophysicae
Main Authors: I. Wainer, J. Servain, G. Clauzet
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2008
Subjects:
Science
Q
Physics
QC1-999
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-26-4075-2008
https://doaj.org/article/5c1bd952f9fd4504a5acc05759c317f8
Description
Summary:In the past two decades climate research in the tropical Atlantic with respect to the inter-hemispheric gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) emphasized the predominance of decadal-scale variability. Our results show that this mode of variability is prevalent only for part of the last 130-years record (the 1880s, the 1920s and, especially, the 1970s). There is a lag of a few months between the decadal variations of the inter-hemispheric gradient of SST and the decadal variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). This seems to indicate that the 10-year variability first develops in the tropics and then propagates polewards. The inter-hemispheric gradient of SST mode should be thought as episodic and not as a periodic oscillation.

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