Influence of Azores High pressure on Middle Eastern rainfall

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 111 - Trang 211-221 - 2012
M. J. Iqbal1,2, Sultan Hameed3, Farheen Khan2
1Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
2Department of Mathematics, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
3School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA

Tóm tắt

Several studies demonstrate that North Atlantic Oscillation influences variability of climate over Middle East. We use the centers of action approach for the study of winter rainfall variability over Middle East, taking into account variations in the components of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Azores High and the Icelandic Low pressure systems. The results show there is a negative relation between the interannual variations of winter rainfall over Middle East and Azores High pressure. The east–west shifts of Indian Ocean high pressure has also impact on precipitation over Middle East, there being more precipitation when the Indian Ocean High shifts eastward versus when it is westward. We present a regression model for Middle East precipitation in which the Azores High pressure and the Indian Ocean High longitude are independent variables and it explains 40 % of the variance of precipitation during 1952–2002. Furthermore, the ongoing decrease in winter precipitation over the Middle East is attributed to the increasing pressure of the Azores High over the same period.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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