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Recent shifts in the state of the North Pacific
N.A. Bond,1 J.E. Overland,2 M. Spillane,1 and
P. Stabeno2
1University of Washington/Joint Institute for the Study
of the Atmosphere and Ocean, Seattle, Washington, USA.
2Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Seattle, Washington, 98115
Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(23), 2183, doi:10.1029/2003GL018597, 2003.
Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.
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The winters of 1999–2002 for the North Pacific were characterized by spatial patterns in sea
level pressure anomaly (SLPA) and sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) with little
resemblance to those of the leading pattern of North Pacific climate variability, the Pacific
Decadal Oscillation (PDO). In essence, the southeastern (northern) portion of the North Pacific
was subject to atmospheric forcing characteristic of that before (after) the major regime shift of
1976–77. Recent major changes in the ecosystems off the west coast of the United States and
continued conditions similar to those of the early 1990s in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and
Sea of Okhotsk are consistent with these SLPA and SSTA patterns. Our result illustrates that a
single indicator such as the PDO is incomplete in characterizing North Pacific climate.
- Entire Text
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Comparison of Recent SLP and SST Anomaly Fields to the 1970s Regime Shift
- 3. PCA of the Winter North Pacific
- 4. Meteorological Interpretation of Recent North Pacific Forcing
- 5. Conclusion
- References
- Gallery of Figures
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