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Abstract South American climate is influenced by both Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV) and Pacific multidecadal variability (PMV). But how they jointly affect South American precipitation and surface air temperature is not well understood. Here we analyze composite anomalies to quantify their combined impacts using observations and reanalysis data. During an AMV warm (cold) phase, PMV-induced JJA precipitation anomalies are more positive (negative) over 0°-10°S and southeastern South America, but more negative (positive) over the northern Amazon and central Brazil. PMV-induced precipitation anomalies in DJF are more positive (negative) over Northeast Brazil and southeastern South America during the warm (cold) AMV phase, but more negative (positive) over the central Amazon Basin and central-eastern Brazil. PMV’s impact on AMV-induced precipitation anomalies shows similar dipole patterns. The precipitation changes result from perturbations of the local Hadley and Walker Circulations. In JJA, PMV- and AMV-induced temperature anomalies are more positive (negative) over entire South America when the other basin is in a warm (cold) phase, but in DJF temperature anomalies are more positive (negative) only over the central Andes and central-eastern Brazil and more negative (positive) over southeastern South America and Patagonia. Over central Brazil in JJA and southern Bolivia and northern Argentina in DJF, the temperature and precipitation anomalies are negatively correlated. Our results show that the influence of Pacific and Atlantic multidecadal variability need to be considered jointly, as significant departures from the mean AMV or PMV fingerprint can occur during a cold or warm phase of the other basin’s mode.
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Empirical–Statistical Downscaling of Austral Summer Precipitation over South America, with a Focus on the Central Peruvian Andes and the Equatorial Amazon Basin
Abstract Precipitation is one of the most difficult variables to estimate using large-scale predictors. Over South America (SA), this task is even more challenging, given the complex topography of the Andes. Empirical–statistical downscaling (ESD) models can be used for this purpose, but such models, applicable for all of SA, have not yet been developed. To address this issue, we construct an ESD model using multiple-linear-regression techniques for the period 1982–2016 that is based on large-scale circulation indices representing tropical Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and South American climate variability, to estimate austral summer [December–February (DJF)] precipitation over SA. Statistical analyses show that the ESD model can reproduce observed precipitation anomalies over the tropical Andes (Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia), the eastern equatorial Amazon basin, and the central part of the western Argentinian Andes. On a smaller scale, the ESD model also shows good results over the Western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes. The ESD model reproduces anomalously dry conditions over the eastern equatorial Amazon and the wet conditions over southeastern South America (SESA) during the three extreme El Niños: 1982/83, 1997/98, and 2015/16. However, it overestimates the observed intensities over SESA. For the central Peruvian Andes as a case study, results further show that the ESD model can correctly reproduce DJF precipitation anomalies over the entire Mantaro basin during the three extreme El Niño episodes. Moreover, multiple experiments with varying predictor combinations of the ESD model corroborate the hypothesis that the interaction between the South Atlantic convergence zone and the equatorial Atlantic Ocean provoked the Amazon drought in 2015/16.
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- PAR ID:
- 10212654
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
- Volume:
- 60
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1558-8424
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 65 to 85
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0066.1
