Global Climate Change on Biennial to Interdecadal Timescales: Phenomena, Problems, Global Networks
Warren B. White
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Abstract
1. Introduction
In a recent series of studies Tourre and White (1995, 1997, 1999) found a global propagating wave in SLP anomalies on interannual timescales traveling slowly eastward across the tropical Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans superimposed upon the global standing wave pattern of the Southern Oscillation. White and Cayan (1999) found this global propagating ENSO wave in SLP anomalies covarying with SST anomalies, taking 4 to 5 years to transit the global tropical ocean along the path of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). They also examined this global propagating wave in historical datasets extending from 1900 to 1997, finding its relative persistence modulated by interdecadal change over the past century. Similarly Power et al. (1999) found interdecadal variability affecting the way the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) influenced year to year variability in Australia precipitation.
