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Global scale decadal climate variability
Author(s) -
Meehl Gerald A.,
Arblaster Julie M.,
Strand Warren G.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1998gl900088
Subject(s) - ocean gyre , climatology , ocean heat content , pacific decadal oscillation , sea surface temperature , oceanic basin , oceanography , geology , environmental science , ocean current , climate model , climate change , subtropics , structural basin , paleontology , fishery , biology
Analysis of observations and results from a global coupled climate model show that coherent decadal climate variability extends over the entire Pacific basin, is associated with processes in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions to contribute to global patterns of decadal climate variability, and encompasses regional decadal mechanisms noted in previous studies. Ocean heat content anomalies embedded in the gyre circulations of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans are associated with global decadal timescale “El Niño‐like” signals in atmosphere and ocean with consequent global energy balance variations. Large‐scale tropical‐midlatitude interactions act to replenish the ocean heat content anomalies. Maxima in decadal timescale globally averaged surface temperature occur in conjunction with periodic arrangements of SST anomalies, in association with the heat content anomalies embedded in the various ocean gyre circulations, in a global “El Niño‐like” pattern that is highly correlated with such maxima. The decadal timescale in the model is approximately set by the circuit times of the ocean gyre circulations.