Teleconnections: Intraseasonal Dynamics and its Relationship to Interannual and Interdecadal Variability

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This project studies the dynamics of the recurrent patterns of variability of the large-scale atmospheric cicrulation, including the Pacific/North American Pattern, the North Atlantic Oscillation, and the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Annular Modes. These patterns, sometimes referred to as teleconnection patterns, have a large influence on weather and climate at the earth's surface and thus have a variety of important impacts. The work has three goals: (1) to investigate the basic dynamical processes associated with teleconnection patterns; (2) to to understand the implications of teleconnection patterns on the predictability of atmospheric flow on synoptic to intraseasonal timescales; and 3) to understand the implications of teleconnection patterns for interannual to decadal atmospheric variability. The method of Self Organizing Maps is used to identify the teleconnection patterns, and a combination of statistical techniques and idealized numerical models will be used to understand the underlying dynamics of the patterns.The work has relevance to society because the weather and climate fluctuations associated with teleconnection patterns are important for human activities and the natural world. The results of the work have the potential to improve medium- to long-range forecasting, and preliminary results are already in use at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center. In addition, the work supports a graduate student, thereby providing support and training to the next generation of scientists.