Enso and Nao Impacts on Plains Winter Seasons in Modern and Historical Periods

• Main Author: Mayes, Barbara E.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2011
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdeptcommercepub/558; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/usdeptcommercepub/article/1558/viewcontent/Bolustead_2011_ENSO_AND_NAO_IMPACTS.pdf

Climatological teleconnection patterns, including the phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), are known predictors for variables such as seasonal temperature and precipitation and tropical cyclone activity. ENSO is known to affect synoptic patterns across the continental United States, particularly by its impact on the upper tropospheric jet stream position. Likewise, NAO is associated with changes in sea level pressure and upper-level jet strengths over the Atlantic Ocean, with upstream impacts affecting North American temperatures and precipitation distribution. While ENSO and NAO are two of many factors that influence global circulations, and by distillation may have a less distinguishable influence on the synoptic pattern, coherent signals can be uncovered in the synoptic environment, based on ENSO phase as well as the NAO, that influence temperatures and precipitation in the central United States.