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Phase locking of nordeste precipitation with sea surface temperatures
Author(s) -
Sperber Kenneth R.,
Hameed Sultan
Publication year - 1993
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 - 10.1029/92gl02919
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , climatology , flood myth , phase (matter) , geology , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
Interannual variations of precipitation in several regions around the globe are known to be influenced by sea surface temperatures. We describe a procedure that elicits the same frequencies of variations in the sea surface temperatures as in precipitation. The modes of variation in the two fields are phase locked, allowing us to identify regions in the oceans that vary in unison with changes in precipitation on different time scales. The method is illustrated by application to the northeast section of Brazil, the Nordeste, where flood and drought occur frequently.