Connection of Summer Surface Temperature Anomalies between the East European Plain–West Siberian Plain and North America on the Interannual Timescale

Abstract

This study identifies a significantly positive relationship between summer surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies over two remote regions in the Eurasian continent and North America during the period 1979–2021 on the interannual timescale. The former region includes the East European Plain and the West Siberian Plain, and the latter region includes the central and eastern North America. The regional-averaged summer SAT anomalies show a correlation coefficient of 0.66 between these two regions, which is significant at the 99% confidence level. This intercontinental SAT relationship can be explained by a wave-like pattern of circulation anomalies, which is the leading mode of upper-tropospheric circulation anomalies over the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in summer. Further analysis suggests that the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the Pacific and North Atlantic in the preceding spring, being coupled with the leading mode of atmospheric circulation anomalies over the Pacific–Atlantic sector, persist into summer and affect the SATs in the two remote regions, resulting in the intercontinental SAT connection.