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cited_by: []
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.
href: https://data.globalchange.gov/gcmd_keyword/2de06b90-4abe-4c71-a537-978679bf8aea.yaml
identifier: 2de06b90-4abe-4c71-a537-978679bf8aea
label: PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION
parent_identifier: b887d3e5-4280-43d2-a34e-0f63ac086b6a
uri: /gcmd_keyword/2de06b90-4abe-4c71-a537-978679bf8aea