Relationships between the North Pacific Oscillation and the typhoon/hurricane frequencies

Abstract

Relationships between the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and the typhoon as well as hurricane frequencies are documented. The correlation between NPO index in June–July–August–September and the annual typhoon number in the western North Pacific is 0.37 for the period of 1949–1998. The NPO is correlated with the annual hurricane number in the tropical Atlantic at −0.28 for the same period. The variability of NPO is found to be concurrent with the changes of the magnitude of vertical zonal wind shear, sea-level pressure patterns, as well as the sea surface temperature, which are physically associated with the typhoons and hurricanes genesis. The NPO associated atmospheric circulation variability is analyzed to explain how NPO is linked with variability of the tropical atmospheric circulation in the western Pacific and the tropical Atlantic, via the atmospheric teleconnection.