Open AccessPhase‐locked tropical Pacific precipitation
Author(s) -
Curtis Scott,
Douglass David H.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.639
Subject(s) - precipitation , climatology , phase (matter) , el niño southern oscillation , oscillation (cell signaling) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , physics , geology , chemistry , biochemistry , quantum mechanics
Prior studies of the El Niño/La Niña index SST3 .4 showed periodicity of exactly 2 or 3 years which were ‘phase‐locked’ to the annual solar cycle. Ten such phase‐locked intervals since 1870 were found. This article extends this work by studying precipitation data ( P34 ) for the same region. We find phase‐locked segments corresponding to those found in SST3 .4. Each segment agrees both in the period of oscillation and the date interval. However, the temperature‐precipitation relationship changes from segment to segment, demonstrating the non‐stationarity of the system. The beginnings and ends of these time segments agree with previously reported abrupt climate shifts.