gcmd_keyword : TELECONNECTIONS>PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION

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publications
parent	ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS>TELECONNECTIONS
gcmd_keywords	PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION>PDO

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definition	Fisheries scientist Steven Hare coined the term "Pacific Decadal Oscillation" (PDO) in 1996 while researching connections between Alaska salmon production cycles and Pacific climate. PDO has since been described as a long-lived El Nino-like pattern of Pacific climate variability because the two climate oscillations have similar spatial climate fingerprints, but very different temporal behavior. Two main characteristics distinguish PDO from El Nino/ Southern Oscillation (ENSO): first, 20th century PDO "events" persisted for 20-to-30 years, while typical ENSO events persisted for 6 to 18 months; second, the climatic fingerprints of the PDO are most visible in the North Pacific/North American sector, while secondary signatures exist in the tropics - the opposite is true for ENSO. Several independent studies find evidence for just two full PDO cycles in the past century: "cool" PDO regimes prevailed from 1890-1924 and again from 1947-1976 while"warm" PDO regimes dominated from 1925-1946 and from 1977 through (at least) the mid-1990's. Shoshiro Minobe; has shown that 20th century PDO fluctuations were most energetic in two general periodicities, one from 15-to-25 years, and the other from 50-to-70 years.
identifier	2de06b90-4abe-4c71-a537-978679bf8aea
label	PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION
parent_identifier	b887d3e5-4280-43d2-a34e-0f63ac086b6a
GCMD Metadata	2de06b90-4abe-4c71-a537-978679bf8aea
Ancestors	PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION < TELECONNECTIONS < ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS < CLIMATE INDICATORS < EARTH SCIENCE < Science Keywords