Climate teleconnections at monthly time scales in the Ligurian Sea inferred from satellite data

The existence and spatial distribution of possible teleconnections between the South Pacific and North Atlantic oceans and the Ligurian Sea (North-western Mediterranean) are investigated in the present paper. Teleconnections are searched by cross-correlating monthly spatio-temporal time series of 1.1 km resolution sea surface temperature (SST), and a 22.2 km resolution sea level anomaly (SLA), measured from satellite from March 1993 to August 1999, with two indices characterising the South Pacific and the North Atlantic variability: the Southern Oscillation (SO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indices, respectively. Concerning the variability induced by the North Atlantic Ocean, it is shown that it mostly influences the SLA field in the Ligurian Sea. Specifically, relevant anti-correlations between SLA and North Atlantic variability have been found in all the Ligurian sub-basin. As expected by geographical proximity, the effects of North Atlantic on the SLA field in the Ligurian Sea are instantaneous at monthly time scales. Instead, correlations between SST and NAO Index are found at time lag τ = 1 month in the southern part of the basin highlighting the memory of the ocean related to their heat capacity. Significant anti-correlations between SO Index and the SST field in the Ligurian Sea, were obtained at time lag τ = 4 months in the coastal areas of the sub-basin. Results also indicate that the impact of teleconnections in the area studied is not geographically uniform.