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The effect of Atlantic sea surface temperature dipole mode on hurricanes: Implications for the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season
Author(s) -
Xie Lian,
Yan Tingzhuang,
Pietrafesa Leonard
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1029/2004gl021702
Subject(s) - tropical atlantic , atlantic hurricane , sea surface temperature , tropical cyclone , climatology , oceanography , atlantic equatorial mode , atlantic multidecadal oscillation , environmental science , gulf stream , landfall , subtropics , geology , fishery , biology
Results from this study indicate that the dipole mode of tropical Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies is correlated with the overall activity of hurricanes as well as with the annual hurricane landfall frequency along the southeast coast of the United States. The tropical Atlantic SST dipole mode could affect hurricanes in at least three ways: 1) modulating the weather in West Saharan Africa; 2) influencing the local SST and hence the atmosphere‐ocean environment in the hurricane main development region; 3) coupling with the tropical and subtropical atmospheric circulation that controls the steering of hurricanes. The warm tropical North Atlantic and cool tropical South Atlantic waters are likely one of the main causes for Florida's hurricane havoc in 2004.