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The Southern Oscillation, sea‐surface‐temperature, and interannual fluctuations in Australian tropical cyclone activity
Author(s) -
Nicholls N.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0196-1748
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370040609
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , climatology , cyclone (programming language) , tropical cyclogenesis , sea surface temperature , tropical cyclone rainfall forecasting , environmental science , extratropical cyclone , el niño southern oscillation , tropical cyclone scales , cyclogenesis , african easterly jet , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geography , geology , tropical wave , meteorology , field programmable gate array , computer science , computer hardware
The relationship between interannual variations of the number of tropical cyclones observed in the Australian region during a cyclone season and the Southern Oscillation (SO) has been explored. Strong, significant, stable correlations were found between the SO and cyclone numbers. Years with relatively many tropical cyclones were preceded by high North Australian SST, low east Pacific SST and low Darwin pressure. Such years also tended to be followed by the reverse pattern. The study confirms an earlier suggestion (Nicholls, 1979a) that Australian tropical cyclone activity is predictable some months prior to the start of the cyclone season. The observed correlations may result from feedback between the atmosphere and the ocean.