Journal of Climate: Vol. 13, No. 24, pp. 4358-4365.
The Southern Oscillation Revisited: Sea Level Pressures, Surface Temperatures,
and Precipitation
Kevin E. Trenberth and Julie M. Caron
National Center for Atmospheric Research
P. O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO 80307
(Manuscript received 28 January 2000, in final form 15 February 2000)
An update is given of the global correlation and regression patterns of sea level pressure
associated with the Southern Oscillation, based upon the reanalyses from the National Centers
for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research for 1958-98,
a period independent of that of early work. Features over the oceans are better defined than
was previously possible and most features prove to be robust, although climate changes such
as the 1976 climate shift have evidently altered some important relationships, such as those
with Southeast Asia. Associated surface temperature patterns are also shown over the same
interval and reveal striking symmetry about the equator. For El Niño, the patterns
emphasize the associated broad warming over the tropical central and eastern Pacific, as well
as along the west coast of the Americas extending into high latitudes of the Pacific in both
hemispheres, and cooling in the central North and South Pacific. Precipitation patterns
associated with the Southern Oscillation are given based upon the post-1979 period to include
satellite data over the oceans, which emphasizes that the main changes are for a global
redistribution of precipitation, so that solely land-based perspectives are biased. While
annual mean patterns reveal much of the geographic structure associated with the Southern
Oscillation, important seasonal variations are present, especially for sea level pressure and
precipitation.
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Hongjun Zhang:
zhangho@ucar.edu