Seasonal Response of Mean Monthly Streamflow to El Niño/Southern Oscillation in North Central Florida

Abstract

The southeastern United States, including Florida, has been identified as a region of homogeneous response to the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climatic anomaly, in which mean monthly precipitation and discharge during winter is above or below normal following the onset of the warm (El Niño) or cold (La Niña) phase of ENSO, respectively. However, this understanding of the response is expanded through a study of the effects of the ENSO phenomenon on the probability distributions of mean monthly streamflows of the Santa Fe river. The Santa Fe river basin is situated between one region, which experiences the greatest proportion of annual streamflow during winter, and another where the largest percentage of annual flow occurs during late summer. The basin experiences both winter and summer peaks in precipitation and (subsequent) streamflow and may therefore display responses to ENSO during each season. A two-parameter lognormal distribution is employed to model these streamflows during warm and cold phases of ENSO. Increases in both the mean and the variance detected during warm phase winters are compatible with previous observations. Increases in variance apparent during cold phase summers have not been previously identified. These results, which have considerable bearing upon predictions of high and low flow probabilities during the year, suggest that the response in streamflow is not spatially homogeneous across the state.