Multiscale variabilities in global sea surface temperatures and their relationships with tropospheric climate patterns

El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a global phenomenon with significant phase propagation within and between basins. This is captured and describe d in the first mode of a complex empirical orthogonal function (CEOF) analy sis of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) from the midnineteenth centur y through 1991. The global ENSO from the SSTA data, plus a linear trend eve rywhere, are subsequently removed in order to consider other global modes o f variability uncontaminated by the intra- and interbasin effects of ENSO. An ordinary CEOF analysis of the SSTA residuals reveals three non-ENSO mode s of low-frequency variability that are related to slow oceanic and climate signals described in the literature. The first two modes have decadal to m ultidecadal timescales with high loadings in the Pacific. They bear some sp atial similarities to the ENSO pattern but are broader, more intense at hig h latitudes, and differ in the time domain. A CEOF analysis confirms that t hey are not merely the phase-related components of a single mode and that a ll three modes are without significant phase propagation. The third mode is a multidecadal signal with maximal realization in the extratropical North Atlantic southeast of Greenland. It is consistent with studies that have do cumented connections between North Atlantic SSTA and the tropospheric North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). All three SSTA modes have midtropospheric associations related to previousl y classified Northern Hemisphere teleconnection patterns. The relationships between SSTA modes and tropospheric patterns are consistent with the ocean -atmosphere interactions discussed in previous studies to explain low-frequ ency climate oscillations in the North Pacific and North Atlantic sectors. The first three leading modes of non-ENSO SSTA are most related, to the tro pospheric patterns of the Pacific North American, the North Pacific, and th e Arctic oscillations (AO), respectively. The 500-hPa pattern associated wi th the third SSTA mode also bears similarities to the NAO in its Atlantic s ector. This North Atlantic mode has a region of high, positive SSTA loading s in the Gulf of Alaska, which appear to be connected to the North Atlantic SSTA by a tropospheric bridge effect in the AO.