Abstract
Abstract. This study analyzes the link between the SWH (Significant Wave Height) distribution in the Mediterranean Sea during the second half of the 20th century and the Northern Hemisphere SLP (Sea Level Pressure) teleconnection patterns. The SWH distribution is computed using the WAM (WAve Model) forced by the surface wind fields provided by the ERA-40 reanalysis for the period 1958–2001. The time series of mid-latitude teleconnection patterns are downloaded from the NOAA web site. This study shows that several mid-latitude patterns are linked to the SWH field in the Mediterranean, especially in its western part during the cold season: East Atlantic Pattern (EA), Scandinavian Pattern (SCA), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), East Atlantic/West Russia Pattern (EA/WR) and East Pacific/ North Pacific Pattern (EP/NP). Though the East Atlantic pattern exerts the largest influence, it is not sufficient to characterize the dominant variability. NAO, though relevant, has an effect smaller than EA and comparable to other patterns. Some link results from possibly spurious structures. Patterns which have a very different global structure are associated to similar spatial features of the wave variability in the Mediterranean Sea. These two problems are, admittedly, shortcomings of this analysis, which shows the complexity of the response of the Mediterranean SWH to global scale SLP teleconnection patterns.
Highlights
Teleconnection (TLC) patterns have been proposed to describe monthly variability of SLP fields at global scale (Barnston and Livezey, 1987)
The monthly average wave data used in this analysis have been extracted from a model simulation (Lionello and Sanna, 2005) done with the WAM (WAve Model, WAMDI 1987) forced by the surface wind fields provided by the ERA-40 (Simmons and Gibson, 2000) reanalysis for the period 1958-2001
This pattern has a strong link with west Mediterranean SWH from November to February, when it is characterized by a high pressure located over most of central Europe and framed between two pressure centers, over West Russia and the mid-Atlantic
Summary
Teleconnection (TLC) patterns have been proposed to describe monthly variability of SLP fields at global scale (Barnston and Livezey, 1987). The monthly average wave data used in this analysis have been extracted from a model simulation (Lionello and Sanna , 2005) done with the WAM (WAve Model, WAMDI 1987) forced by the surface wind fields provided by the ERA-40 (Simmons and Gibson, 2000) reanalysis for the period 1958-2001. It has, been shown that the inter-monthly variability is well reproduced by this simulation (Lionello and Sanna, 2005). Galati: Links of the SWH in the Mediterranean Sea with NH teleconnections
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