Interacting Climates of Ocean Basins: Observations, Mechanisms, Predictability, and Impacts

This presentation reviews overwhelming evidence that climate variations in one ocean basin can significantly modulate the variability in other ocean basins. The evidence is supported by several innovative studies with observational and model data, and is consistent with the most recent conceptual understanding of remote mechanisms for influence. These interactions among ocean basins have affected the oceanic influence on continental climates, with associated impacts on societies. Therefore, in examining oceanic variability and its impacts from interannual to decadal time scales individual basins cannot be considered separately anymore. This realization has generated exciting new possibilities for enhancing climate prediction globally.