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Speculated cause of interhemispheric oceanic oscillation

Abstract

The study of large-scale correlations of atmospheric and oceanic variables on a supra-annual scale is essential for an understanding of climatic variability. We present here new data on the mean sea-level anomalies in the eastern Indian Ocean which are consistent with supra-annual anomalies in the intensity of the main oceanic gyre, and are negatively correlated with mean sea-level anomalies in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Larger anomalies are induced in the Indian Ocean probably due to its smaller size, and zonal mean stratospheric 50 mbar geopotential heights at 10°N, 20°N and 30°N are better correlated with the Indian Ocean than with the Pacific Ocean mean sea levels. It is speculated that the reported responses are due to a random variation of the monsoonally generated heat transport between the oceans. This variability would give rise to equatorial heat anomalies in each ocean which induce the observed changes in mean sea level, and the coupled changes in the sub-tropical atmospheric circulations.

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Bye, J., Gordon, A. Speculated cause of interhemispheric oceanic oscillation. Nature 296, 52–54 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296052a0

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