Rd. Koster et Mj. Suarez, RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF LAND AND OCEAN PROCESSES TO PRECIPITATION VARIABILITY, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 100(D7), 1995, pp. 13775-13790
A series of general circulation model simulations are used to quantify
the relative contributions of land surface and ocean variability to v
ariability in precipitation. The simulations show that land surface pr
ocesses contribute significant to the variance of annual precipitation
over continents. In contrast, ocean processes acting alone have a muc
h smaller effect, particularly in midlatitudes. The precipitation vari
ability reflects local evaporation variability and associated hydrolog
ical persistence, and it responds most strongly to the land surface du
ring summer, when moist convection dominates.