MAPPING THE CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE TROPICS AND HIGHER LATITUDES IN THE ATMOSPHERE

Nonlinear prediction is applied on atmospheric observations in order t o derive seasonal to interannual predictability over the Northern Hemi sphere. Using ideas from information theory we were then able from the spatial distribution of predictability to discover the exact location of corridors where ''information'' flows from the tropics to the midl atitudes. Here, information can be thought as a product or output of a physical entity such as El Nino or some other activity or phenomenon in the tropics whose fluctuations may often dictate large scale dynami cs. The corridors are paths in the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocea n and their exact location determines which areas on the globe are mos t likely to be affected from the interaction between the tropics and t he midlatitudes.