Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Geophysical Research Letters
Author ORCID Identifier
Grace Affram https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9299-1400
Wei Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2169-8749
Vittal Hari https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8754-0488
Si Gao https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1946-4778
Cody Ratterman https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6058-4410
Volume
51
Issue
13
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
Publication Date
7-16-2024
Journal Article Version
Version of Record
First Page
1
Last Page
10
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Abstract
Historically, the precipitation trend over the past few decades in the Contiguous United States (CONUS) exhibits a "Dry-West Wet-East" pattern; this is manifested by recent droughts/floods in the western/eastern US. However, it remains elusive what atmospheric phenomenon has potentially driven such a remarkable, and impactful precipitation pattern. Here we found that a coupled climate mode—the Pacific Meridional Mode (PMM) exerted strong impacts on the precipitation pattern over the CONUS during the summer season. We discovered a significant association between the PMM index and precipitation across the majority of the CONUS; this was manifested as a zonal dipole pattern—negative correlations in the western U.S. along with positive correlations in the eastern and central U.S. Overall, the physical mechanisms based on observations were supported by using Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project simulations available from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6.
Recommended Citation
Affram, G., Zhang, W., Hari, V., Gao, S., Ratterman, C., Zhu, L., & Gillies, R. R. (2024). Modulation of the Pacific Meridional Mode on the dipole pattern of the CONUS summertime precipitation. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL109636. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109636
