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Disappearance of the southeast U.S. “warming hole” with the late 1990s transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064586· OSTI ID:1785805
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder Colorado USA
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder Colorado USA, Bureau of Meteorology Melbourne Victoria Australia
  3. Bureau of Meteorology Melbourne Victoria Australia
+ Show Author Affiliations
Abstract

Observed surface air temperatures over the contiguous U.S. for the second half of the twentieth century showed a slight cooling over the southeastern part of the country, the so‐called “warming hole,” while temperatures over the rest of the country warmed. This pattern reversed after 2000. Climate model simulations show that the disappearance of the warming hole in the early 2000s is likely associated with the transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) phase from positive to negative in the tropical Pacific in the late 1990s, coincident with the early 2000s slowdown of the warming trend in globally averaged surface air temperature. Analysis of a specified convective heating anomaly sensitivity experiment in an atmosphere‐only model traces the disappearance of the warming hole to negative sea surface temperature anomalies and consequent negative precipitation and convective heating anomalies in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean associated with the negative phase of the IPO after 2000.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FC02-97ER62402
OSTI ID:
1785805
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 42; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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