DECADAL VARIABILITY OF HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC

A. B. Polonskii and A. S. Kuzmin

Amplitude-phase characteristics of decadal variability in the upper 400-m layer of the subtropical North Atlantic and in the surface layer of the atmosphere are detected from archival oceanographic and hydrometeorological data. It is shown that in the thermocline there is no regular westward propagation of the decadal signal that could be interpreted as Rossby baroclinic waves. Temperature anomalies occur over several years in the upper 200 m in the central and eastern parts of the subtropical gyre. Corresponding changes simultaneously occur in large-scale wind vorticity in the subtropical zone. At the same time, decadal changes in sea surface temperature have positive feedback with air pressure changes in the subtropical Atlantic. The conclusion is that advection and diffusion processes in the ocean play an important role in decadal variations in the ocean—atmosphere system.