E. Kahya et Ja. Dracup, UNITED-STATES STREAMFLOW PATTERNS IN RELATION TO THE EL-NINO SOUTHERNOSCILLATION, Water resources research, 29(8), 1993, pp. 2491-2503
The relationship between the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and u
nimpaired streamflow over the contiguous United States is studied. The
extreme phases of the Southern Oscillation have been linked to fairly
persistent classes of atmospheric anomalies over the low and middle l
atitudes at regional and global scales. Of particular interest in this
investigation is the identification of regions of land that appear to
have strong and consistent ENSO-related streamflow signals. The first
harmonic extracted from a 24-month ENSO composite at each station is
assumed to be the ENSO-related signal appearing in streamflow anomalie
s. These regions were identified by the similarity in phase of the har
monic vectors. The vectorial display of these harmonics over a map of
the United States provides the areal extents of ENSO influence on stre
amflow. Coherent and significant streamflow responses to hypothesized
ENSO forcing are found in four regions of the United States: the Gulf
of Mexico, the Northeast, the North Central, and the Pacific Northwest
. Once an ENSO event sets in, a long-range forecasting utility may be
available for these regions. The results of this analysis, which are c
onsistent with previous studies on precipitation and temperature, demo
nstrate the mid-latitude hydrologic response to the tropical ENSO phen
omena.