Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 6 April 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5514, pp. 90 - 92
DOI: 10.1126/science.1058582
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Tropical Origins for Recent North Atlantic Climate Change

Martin P. Hoerling,1 James W. Hurrell,2 Taiyi Xu1

Evidence is presented that North Atlantic climate change since 1950 is linked to a progressive warming of tropical sea surface temperatures, especially over the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The ocean changes alter the pattern and magnitude of tropical rainfall and atmospheric heating, the atmospheric response to which includes the spatial structure of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The slow, tropical ocean warming has thus forced a commensurate trend toward one extreme phase of the NAO during the past half-century.

1 Climate Diagnostics Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Environmental Research Laboratories, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
2 National Center for Atmospheric Research, Post Office Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mph{at}cdc.noaa.gov

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Persistent Positive North Atlantic Oscillation Mode Dominated the Medieval Climate Anomaly.
V. Trouet, J. Esper, N. E. Graham, A. Baker, J. D. Scourse, and D. C. Frank (2009)
Science 324, 78-80
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Multicentennial megadrought in northern Europe coincided with a global El Nino-Southern Oscillation drought pattern during the Medieval Climate Anomaly.
S. Helama, J. Merilainen, and H. Tuomenvirta (2009)
Geology 37, 175-178
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Climate and wildfires in the North American boreal forest.
M. Macias Fauria and E.A Johnson (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2315-2327
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Solar forcing of Holocene climate: New insights from a speleothem record, southwestern United States.
Y. Asmerom, V. Polyak, S. Burns, and J. Rassmussen (2007)
Geology 35, 1-4
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Paired coral Sr/Ca and {delta}18O records from the Chagos Archipelago: Late twentieth century warming affects rainfall variability in the tropical Indian Ocean.
M. Pfeiffer, O. Timm, W.-C. Dullo, and D. Garbe-Schonberg (2006)
Geology 34, 1069-1072
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Trajectory shifts in the Arctic and subarctic freshwater cycle..
B. J. Peterson, J. McClelland, R. Curry, R. M. Holmes, J. E. Walsh, and K. Aagaard (2006)
Science 313, 1061-1066
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Holocene climatic and environmental changes in the arid and semi-arid areas of China: a review.
Z. D. Feng, Z.-D. Feng, C. B. An, and H. B. Wang (2006)
The Holocene 16, 119-130
   Abstract »    PDF »
Modern pollen-based interpretations of mid-Holocene palaeoclimate (8500 to 3000 cal. BP) at the southern margin of the Tengger Desert, northwestern China.
null Ma Yuzhen, Y. Ma, H. Zhang, H.-J. Pachur, B. WUnnemann, J. Li, and Z. Feng (2004)
The Holocene 14, 841-850
   Abstract »    PDF »
Modern Global Climate Change.
T. R. Karl and K. E. Trenberth (2003)
Science 302, 1719-1723
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Simulation of Recent Southern Hemisphere Climate Change.
N. P. Gillett and D. W. J. Thompson (2003)
Science 302, 273-275
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A 725 yr cycle in the climate of central Africa during the late Holocene.
J.M. Russell, T.C. Johnson, and M.R. Talbot (2003)
Geology 31, 677-680
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Estimation of low-latitude paleoclimates using fossil angiosperm leaves: examples from the Miocene Tugen Hills, Kenya.
(2002)
Paleobiology 28, 399-421
Dynamics of Recent Climate Change in the Arctic.
R. E. Moritz, C. M. Bitz, and E. J. Steig (2002)
Science 297, 1497-1502
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ecological Effects of Climate Fluctuations.
N. C. Stenseth, A. Mysterud, G. Ottersen, J. W. Hurrell, K.-S. Chan, and M. Lima (2002)
Science 297, 1292-1296
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Climate Warming and Disease Risks for Terrestrial and Marine Biota.
C. D. Harvell, C. E. Mitchell, J. R. Ward, S. Altizer, A. P. Dobson, R. S. Ostfeld, and M. D. Samuel (2002)
Science 296, 2158-2162
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Interpretation of Recent Southern Hemisphere Climate Change.
D. W. J. Thompson and S. Solomon (2002)
Science 296, 895-899
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Solar Forcing of Regional Climate Change During the Maunder Minimum.
D. T. Shindell, G. A. Schmidt, M. E. Mann, D. Rind, and A. Waple (2001)
Science 294, 2149-2152
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The North Atlantic Oscillation: Past, present, and future.
M. H. Visbeck, J. W. Hurrell, L. Polvani, and H. M. Cullen (2001)
PNAS
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The North Atlantic Oscillation: Past, present, and future.
M. H. Visbeck, J. W. Hurrell, L. Polvani, and H. M. Cullen (2001)
PNAS 98, 12876-12877
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)