Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain
Atmospheric-oceanic circulations (teleconnections) have an important influence on regional climate. In Great Britain, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has long been understood as the leading mode of climate variability, and its phase and magnitude have been found to influence regional rainfall i...
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2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111533 https://doaj.org/article/d1a0ba6daa114a4f8ddf5173bdfb3c0d |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d1a0ba6daa114a4f8ddf5173bdfb3c0d 2023-05-15T17:29:45+02:00 Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain Harry West Nevil Quinn Michael Horswell 2021-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111533 https://doaj.org/article/d1a0ba6daa114a4f8ddf5173bdfb3c0d EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1533 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4433 doi:10.3390/atmos12111533 2073-4433 https://doaj.org/article/d1a0ba6daa114a4f8ddf5173bdfb3c0d Atmosphere, Vol 12, Iss 1533, p 1533 (2021) North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) East Atlantic Pattern (EA) rainfall signatures spatio-temporal analysis Great Britain Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111533 2022-12-31T05:28:37Z Atmospheric-oceanic circulations (teleconnections) have an important influence on regional climate. In Great Britain, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has long been understood as the leading mode of climate variability, and its phase and magnitude have been found to influence regional rainfall in previous research. The East Atlantic Pattern (EA) is also increasingly recognised as being a secondary influence on European climate. In this study we use high resolution gridded rainfall and Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) time series data for Great Britain to map the monthly rainfall signatures of the NAO and EA over the period January 1950–December 2015. Our analyses show that the influence of the two teleconnections varies in space and time with distinctive monthly signatures observed in both average rainfall/SPI-1 values and incidences of wet/dry extremes. In the winter months the NAO has a strong influence on rainfall and extremes in the north-western regions. Meanwhile, in the southern and central regions stronger EA-rainfall relationships are present. In the summer months opposing positive/negative phases of the NAO and EA result in stronger wet/dry signatures which are more spatially consistent. Our findings suggest that both the NAO and EA have a prominent influence on regional rainfall distribution and volume in Great Britain, which in turn has implications for the use of teleconnection forecasts in water management decision making. We conclude that accounting for both NAO and EA influences will lead to an enhanced understanding of both historic and future spatial distribution of monthly precipitation. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Atmosphere 12 11 1533 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) East Atlantic Pattern (EA) rainfall signatures spatio-temporal analysis Great Britain Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) East Atlantic Pattern (EA) rainfall signatures spatio-temporal analysis Great Britain Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Harry West Nevil Quinn Michael Horswell Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain |
topic_facet |
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) East Atlantic Pattern (EA) rainfall signatures spatio-temporal analysis Great Britain Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Atmospheric-oceanic circulations (teleconnections) have an important influence on regional climate. In Great Britain, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has long been understood as the leading mode of climate variability, and its phase and magnitude have been found to influence regional rainfall in previous research. The East Atlantic Pattern (EA) is also increasingly recognised as being a secondary influence on European climate. In this study we use high resolution gridded rainfall and Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) time series data for Great Britain to map the monthly rainfall signatures of the NAO and EA over the period January 1950–December 2015. Our analyses show that the influence of the two teleconnections varies in space and time with distinctive monthly signatures observed in both average rainfall/SPI-1 values and incidences of wet/dry extremes. In the winter months the NAO has a strong influence on rainfall and extremes in the north-western regions. Meanwhile, in the southern and central regions stronger EA-rainfall relationships are present. In the summer months opposing positive/negative phases of the NAO and EA result in stronger wet/dry signatures which are more spatially consistent. Our findings suggest that both the NAO and EA have a prominent influence on regional rainfall distribution and volume in Great Britain, which in turn has implications for the use of teleconnection forecasts in water management decision making. We conclude that accounting for both NAO and EA influences will lead to an enhanced understanding of both historic and future spatial distribution of monthly precipitation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Harry West Nevil Quinn Michael Horswell |
author_facet |
Harry West Nevil Quinn Michael Horswell |
author_sort |
Harry West |
title |
Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain |
title_short |
Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain |
title_full |
Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain |
title_fullStr |
Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monthly Rainfall Signatures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern in Great Britain |
title_sort |
monthly rainfall signatures of the north atlantic oscillation and east atlantic pattern in great britain |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111533 https://doaj.org/article/d1a0ba6daa114a4f8ddf5173bdfb3c0d |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Atmosphere, Vol 12, Iss 1533, p 1533 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1533 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4433 doi:10.3390/atmos12111533 2073-4433 https://doaj.org/article/d1a0ba6daa114a4f8ddf5173bdfb3c0d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111533 |
container_title |
Atmosphere |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
1533 |
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1766124549193072640 |