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Interannual variability of Mediterranean evaporation and its relation to regional climate

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Abstract

Gridded monthly evaporation data for 1958–2006 from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution data set are used to investigate interannual variability of Mediterranean evaporation during cold and hot seasons and its relation to regional atmospheric dynamics, sea surface temperature and atmospheric elements of the hydrological cycle. The first EOF mode of Mediterranean evaporation, explaining more than 50% of its total variance, is characterized by the monopole pattern both in winter and summer. However, despite structural similarity, the EOF-1 of Mediterranean evaporation is affected by different climate signals in cold and hot seasons. During winter the EOF-1 is associated with the East Atlantic teleconnection pattern. In summer, there is indication of tropical influence on the EOF-1 of Mediterranean evaporation (presumably from Asian monsoon). Both in winter and summer, principal components of EOF-1 demonstrate clear interdecadal signals (with a stronger signature in summer) associated with large sea surface temperature anomalies. The results of a sensitivity analysis suggest that in winter both the meridional wind and the vertical gradient of saturation specific humidity (GSSH) near the sea surface contribute to the interdecadal evaporation signal. In summer, however, it is likely that the signal is more related to GSSH. Our analysis did not reveal significant links between the Mediterranean evaporation and the North Atlantic Oscillation in any season. The EOF-2 of evaporation accounts for 20% (11%) of its total variance in winter (in summer). Both in winter and summer the EOF-2 is characterized by a zonal dipole with opposite variations of evaporation in western and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea. This mode is associated presumably with smaller scale (i.e., local) effects of atmospheric dynamics. Seasonality of the leading modes of the Mediterranean evaporation is also clearly seen in the character of their links to atmospheric elements of the regional hydrological cycle. In particular, significant links to precipitation in some regions have been found in winter, but not in summer.

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Notes

  1. http://oaflux.whoi.edu.

  2. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/teledoc/telecontents.html.

  3. After linearization about the climatology of the Clausius-Clapeyron equation.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Special Grant of the Government of Russian Federation for the support of research projects implemented under the supervision of leading scientists at Russian Universities. We also benefited from the support of the special grants 02.740.11.0019, NS-3345.2010.5 and P920 from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. Some of this work was done while one of the authors (AH) was visiting the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) at the University of Reading. IZ acknowledges the support for his visit to Stockholm University from the International Meteorological Institute (IMI) at MISU. The NCEP data were extracted from the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Centre. We thank the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for providing the ERA-40 data and Dr Andy Turner for computing and providing the vertically integrated moisture fluxes. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that helped improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, RAS and Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University, 36, Nakhimovsky Ave., Moscow, 117997, Russia

    Igor I. Zveryaev

  2. Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Abdel A. Hannachi

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  1. Igor I. Zveryaev
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  2. Abdel A. Hannachi
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Correspondence to Igor I. Zveryaev.

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Zveryaev, I.I., Hannachi, A.A. Interannual variability of Mediterranean evaporation and its relation to regional climate. Clim Dyn 38, 495–512 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1218-7

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