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Global Precipitation Patterns Associated with ENSO and Tropical CirculationsTropical precipitation and the accompanying latent heat release is the engine that drives the global circulation. An increase or decrease in rainfall in the tropics not only leads to the local effects of flooding or drought, but contributes to changes in the large scale circulation and global climate system. Rainfall in the tropics is highly variable, both seasonally (monsoons) and interannually (ENSO). Two experimental observational data sets, developed under the auspices of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), are used in this study to examine the relationships between global precipitation and ENSO and extreme monsoon events over the past 20 years. The V2x79 monthly product is a globally complete, 2.5 deg x 2.5 deg, satellite-gauge merged data set that covers the period 1979 to the present. Indices based on patterns of satellite-derived rainfall anomalies in the Pacific are used to analyze the teleconnections between ENSO and global precipitation, with emphasis on the monsoon systems. It has been well documented that dry (wet) Asian monsoons accompany warm (cold) ENSO events. However, during the summer seasons of the 1997/98 ENSO the precipitation anomalies were mostly positive over India and the Bay of Bengal, which may be related to an epoch-scale variability in the Asian monsoon circulation. The North American monsoon may be less well linked to ENSO, but a positive precipitation anomaly was observed over Mexico around the September following the 1997/98 event. For the twenty-year record, precipitation and SST patterns in the tropics are analyzed during wet and dry monsoons. For the Asian summer monsoon, positive rainfall anomalies accompany two distinct patterns of tropical precipitation and a warm Indian Ocean. Negative anomalies coincide with a wet Maritime Continent.
Document ID
19990106571
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Curtis, Scott
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Adler, Robert
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Huffman, George
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Bolvin, David
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Nelkin, Eric
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: Climate Diagnostics Prediction
Location: Tucson, AZ
Country: United States
Start Date: November 1, 1999
End Date: November 5, 1999
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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