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Can Indian Ocean SST anomalies influence South American rainfall?

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Abstract

In this study we examine the impact of Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) variability on South American circulation using observations and a suite of numerical experiments forced by a combination of Indian and Pacific SST anomalies. Previous studies have shown that the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) mode can affect climate over remote regions across the globe, including over South America. Here we show that such a link exists not only with the IOD, but also with the Indian Ocean basin-wide warming (IOBW). The IOBW, a response to El Niño events, tends to reinforce the South American anomalous circulation in March-to-May associated with the warm events in the Pacific. This leads to increased rainfall in the La Plata basin and decreased rainfall over the northern regions of the continent. In addition, the IOBW is suggested to be an important factor for modulating the persistence of dry conditions over northeastern South America during austral autumn. The link between the IOBW and South American climate occurs via alterations of the Walker circulation pattern and through a mid-latitude wave-train teleconnection.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Laura Ciasto for her help in editing the manuscript. GPCC Precipitation data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/. The HadISST1 is available at the UK Meteorological Office, http://www.badc.nerc.ac.uk/data/hadisst/. Use of NCAR CAM3 model is gratefully acknowledged. The model simulations were run at the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing National Facility. This research was supported by the Australian Research Council and the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). T. Ambrizzi has also received funding from CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technologic Development), and from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 212492 (CLARIS LPB-A Europe-South America Network for Climate Change Assessment and Impact Studies in La Plata Basin).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Andréa S. Taschetto

  2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Tércio Ambrizzi

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  1. Andréa S. Taschetto
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  2. Tércio Ambrizzi
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Correspondence to Andréa S. Taschetto.

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Taschetto, A.S., Ambrizzi, T. Can Indian Ocean SST anomalies influence South American rainfall?. Clim Dyn 38, 1615–1628 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1165-3

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