Bradley, R. S., H. F. Diaz, G. N. Kiladis, and J. K. Eischeid, 1987: ENSO signal in continental temperature and precipitation records. Nature, 327, 497-501.


ABSTRACT

Warm events in the tropical Pacific Ocean, associated with one extreme of the Southern Oscillation (generally known as El Niño-Southern Oscillation or ENSO events) are now known to be of global significance in perturbing the general circulation of the atmosphere. It is also apparent that episodes of enhanced cold-water upwelling ('cold events') have an impact on large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. Here we examine the effect of warm and cold events on short-term fluctuations of continental surface air temperature and precipitation throughout the Northern Hemisphere using a newly compiled set of high-quality temperature and precipitation data. The data were in the form of gridded anomalies from a 1951-70 reference mean for temperature and a 1921-60 reference mean for precipitation.