Evolution of the equatorial and dipole modes of the sea-surface temperature in the Tropical Atlantic at decadal scale

Summary ?One hundred and thirty six years (1856–1991) of monthly sea-surface temperature (SST) data in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean are used to investigate the propagating signals of the SST at a decadal (DD) time scale. The first and the third evolving modes show a relationship between the equatorial and the inter-hemispheric patterns, one evolving into the other mode and vice-versa. These modes describe two different evolutions of the SST at DD time-scale. The first EEOF features a 12-year period oscillatory regime with a strong 2-year duration inter-hemispheric pattern evolving into a weak 1-year duration equatorial pattern and vice-versa. This mode exhibits also a northward displacement of the anomalies in the band 15° S–15° N. The third EEOF also shows an oscillatory regime, but with a period of 10 years and with a relatively strong 2-year duration equatorial pattern evolving into a weak 1-year duration inter-hemispheric pattern and vice-versa. For this mode, the SST anomalies show a southward displacement in the band 15° S–15° N. These results have not yet been documented in previous works and explain some of the previous findings on the DD variability in the Tropical Atlantic. Received December 31, 2001; revised April 9, 2002; accepted September 4, 2002 Published online: March 20, 2003