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Variability in sea‐surface temperature and winds in the tropical south‐east Atlantic Ocean and regional rainfall relationships
Author(s) -
Hermes J. C.,
Reason C. J. C.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.1711
Subject(s) - climatology , tropical atlantic , sea surface temperature , boreal , oceanography , environmental science , tropical cyclone rainfall forecasting , geology , cyclone (programming language) , paleontology , field programmable gate array , computer science , computer hardware
Variability in sea‐surface temperature (SST) and winds in the Angola Benguela frontal zone (ABFZ) in the tropical south‐east Atlantic Ocean has previously been shown to be important for regional fisheries and for seasonal rainfall anomalies over Angola/Namibia in austral summer and coastal West Africa in boreal summer. This study investigates intraseasonal variability in winds and SST over this region using QuikSCAT and tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) satellite data for 1999–2004. Wavelet analyses reveal periods of relatively strong power in the 20–30 or 30–64 day frequency bands throughout the record but that there is substantial interannual variability in the occurrence of these intraseasonal oscillations. The implications of this variability for seasonal rainfall anomalies during the main rainy seasons in southern Africa (austral summer) and coastal West Africa (boreal summer) are discussed. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society