Article Type:
Research Article

The Wintertime Wind Stress Curl Field in the North Atlantic and Its Relation to Atmospheric Teleconnection Patterns

Shusaku Sugimoto Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, and Institute for International Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, International Advanced Research and Education Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

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Kimio Hanawa Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

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Print Publication:
01 May 2010
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAS3339.1
Page(s):
1687–1694
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Abstract

Adopting a rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF) analysis and a maximum covariance analysis (MCA), characteristics of the wintertime wind stress curl (WSC) anomaly field in the North Atlantic are investigated. In terms of both temporal variation and spatial distribution, the first four leading modes of WSC show a one-to-one relation with four atmospheric teleconnection patterns over the North Atlantic sector: the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the east Atlantic (EA), tropical–Northern Hemisphere (TNH), and Pacific–North American (PNA) patterns. These four patterns characterize the WSC variations over the different regions in the North Atlantic: NAO and EA over the eastern side of the basin, TNH over the central part of the basin, and PNA over the western side of the basin.

Corresponding author address: Shusaku Sugimoto, Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aramaki-aza-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. Email: sugimoto@pol.gp.tohoku.ac.jp

Abstract

Adopting a rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF) analysis and a maximum covariance analysis (MCA), characteristics of the wintertime wind stress curl (WSC) anomaly field in the North Atlantic are investigated. In terms of both temporal variation and spatial distribution, the first four leading modes of WSC show a one-to-one relation with four atmospheric teleconnection patterns over the North Atlantic sector: the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the east Atlantic (EA), tropical–Northern Hemisphere (TNH), and Pacific–North American (PNA) patterns. These four patterns characterize the WSC variations over the different regions in the North Atlantic: NAO and EA over the eastern side of the basin, TNH over the central part of the basin, and PNA over the western side of the basin.

Corresponding author address: Shusaku Sugimoto, Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aramaki-aza-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. Email: sugimoto@pol.gp.tohoku.ac.jp

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