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A GCM study of the teleconnections between the Continental climate of Africa and global sea surface temperature anomalies

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate
;  [1];  [2]
  1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  2. National Central Univ., Chung Li (Taiwan, Province of China); and others
In this case study the role of global SST anomaly forcing in promoting the extreme climatic conditions that prevailed in Africa during the year of 1950 and 1973 is examined. In 1950 abundant rainfall was observed over tropical Africa, particularly over the Sahel and Southern Africa. By contrast, in 1973, this rainfall anomaly pattern was characterized by the opposite phase, with most of the continent experiencing severe droughts. The primary research vehicle in this investigation is the standard version of the NCAR CCM1 GCM with horizontal resolution of rhomboidal spectral truncation at wavenumber 15 (R15). Two separate 10-yr simulations based on the 1950 and 1973 observed sea surface temperature (SST) have been performed. The empirical orthogonal functions method is employed to isolate the annual cycle harmonics in the data and also to remove statistical noise. The filtered seasonal rainfall fields for the model and the observations are compared to investigate the response of the African continental climate to the 1950 and 1973 SST climatologies. 32 refs., 18 figs., 1 tab.
OSTI ID:
411854
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, Journal Name: Journal of Climate Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 9; ISSN JLCLEL; ISSN 0894-8755
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English