Evidence for atmospheric variability over the Pacific on decadal timescales

Abstract

An index of Pacific decadal variability based on a multivariate empirical orthogonal function analysis of National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis is used to extract associated signals in satellite-based measurements of atmospheric parameters. This index captures the 1976-1977 "El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like" warming shift of sea surface temperatures (SST) as well as a more recent transition of opposite sign in the 1990s. Utilizing measurements of water vapor, wind speed, precipitation, long-wave radiation, as well as surface observations, our analysis shows evidence of the atmospheric changes in the mid-1990s that accompanied the "ENSO-like" interdecadal SST changes. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.