Professor Bruce Anderson discovers ocean/atmosphere climate variation spanning the entire North Pacific
Similar to its equatorial brethren the El Nino/Southern Oscillation, this newly-discovered climate variation–which Earth & Environment Professor Bruce Anderson named the Ebessan/Pacific Precession (EPP) in honor of the Japanese god of fishing–is sustained and energized by basin-wide air-sea interactions unique to the mid- and high-latitudes. It directly impacts marine environments including those in the tropical Pacific, Kuroshio and Oyashio current systems, the Gulf of Alaska, and the California current system. It also gives rise to extreme heat waves and cold spells across North America, and induces droughts and pluvials in the western US and Great Plains. It is the second phenomenon named by Prof. Anderson, the other being the Trade Wind Charging (TWC) mechanism, which is the most prominent driver outside the equatorial Pacific of El Nino and La Nina events.
The discovery of this ocean-atmosphere climate variation is detailed in a new paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The paper is titled “Empirical evidence linking the Pacific Decadal Precession to Kuroshio Extension variability”.” It can be downloaded here (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019JD031163)