THERMAL PATTERNS OF PACIFIC SOUTH-AMERICA ASSOCIATED WITH EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION

Abstract

This study quantifies the magnitude of temperature anomalies associated with extremes of the Southern Oscillation (SO) for 12 long‐record stations and five shorter‐record stations along the west coast of South America. Analysis of t‐tests indicates that nine stations north of 35°S have a strong inverse relationship between their mean annual temperature and the sign of the Tahiti–Darwin Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). Significant inverse relationships are determined between the phase of the Southern Oscillation and (i) summer temperatures (five stations), (ii) autumn temperatures (eight stations), (iii) winter temperatures (eight stations), and (iv) spring temperatures (four stations) for t..