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The Variability of Seasonality

The Variability of Seasonality Seasons are the complex nonlinear response of the physical climate system to regular annual solar forcing. There is no a priori reason why they should remain fixed/invariant from year to year, as is often assumed in climate studies when extracting the seasonal component. The widely used econometric variant of Census Method II Seasonal Adjustment Program (X-11), which allows for year-to-year variations in seasonal shape, is shown here to have some advantages for diagnosing climate variability. The X-11 procedure is applied to the monthly mean Niño-3.4 sea surface temperature (SST) index and global gridded NCEP–NCAR reanalyses of 2-m surface air temperature. The resulting seasonal component shows statistically significant interannual variations over many parts of the globe. By taking these variations in seasonality into account, it is shown that one can define less ambiguous ENSO indices. Furthermore, using the X-11 seasonal adjustment approach, it is shown that the three cold ENSO episodes after 1998 are due to an increase in amplitude of seasonality rather than being three distinct La Niña events. Globally, variations in the seasonal component represent a substantial fraction of the year-to-year variability in monthly mean temperatures. In addition, strong teleconnections can be discerned between the magnitude of seasonal variations across the globe. It might be possible to exploit such relationships to improve the skill of seasonal climate forecasts. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Climate American Meteorological Society

The Variability of Seasonality

Journal of Climate , Volume 18 (1) – Aug 15, 2003

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References (54)

Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Meteorological Society
ISSN
1520-0442
DOI
10.1175/JCLI-3256.1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Seasons are the complex nonlinear response of the physical climate system to regular annual solar forcing. There is no a priori reason why they should remain fixed/invariant from year to year, as is often assumed in climate studies when extracting the seasonal component. The widely used econometric variant of Census Method II Seasonal Adjustment Program (X-11), which allows for year-to-year variations in seasonal shape, is shown here to have some advantages for diagnosing climate variability. The X-11 procedure is applied to the monthly mean Niño-3.4 sea surface temperature (SST) index and global gridded NCEP–NCAR reanalyses of 2-m surface air temperature. The resulting seasonal component shows statistically significant interannual variations over many parts of the globe. By taking these variations in seasonality into account, it is shown that one can define less ambiguous ENSO indices. Furthermore, using the X-11 seasonal adjustment approach, it is shown that the three cold ENSO episodes after 1998 are due to an increase in amplitude of seasonality rather than being three distinct La Niña events. Globally, variations in the seasonal component represent a substantial fraction of the year-to-year variability in monthly mean temperatures. In addition, strong teleconnections can be discerned between the magnitude of seasonal variations across the globe. It might be possible to exploit such relationships to improve the skill of seasonal climate forecasts.

Journal

Journal of ClimateAmerican Meteorological Society

Published: Aug 15, 2003

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