Document Type
Report
Publication Date
January 1994
Abstract
Connections between the Great Salt Lake (GSL) volume (V) and large-scale climate variations are developed through an analysis of the time series of the month-to-month differences in V (change in V), local precipitation and streamflow, and gridded U.S. sea level pressure and global temperature data. We isolate decadal and secular mdoes of cliamte variability that are coherent with change in V variations. The decadal variations results from a low-frequency north-south shifting of storm tracks which influence winter precipitation. These variations describe nearly 18% of the interannual variance in change in V, while the secular trend accounts for only ~1.5%. The latter appears to arise from a combination of increased evaporation due to secular warming, and the influence of changes in atmospheric circulation on local precipitation, the comvined effects of which largely cancel.
Recommended Citation
Mann, Michael E.; Lall, Upmanu; and Saltzman, Barry, "Low Frequency Climate Variability: Understanding the Rise and Fall of the Great Salt Lake" (1994). Reports. Paper 227.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/water_rep/227