Warm and cold events in the Tropical North Atlantic

The warm and cold events in the Tropical North Atlantic (6-22 degrees N, 15 -80 degrees W) region are quantified using sea surface temperature (SST) no rmalized indices. A warm (cold) event was defined if the 5-month running me an index was above (below) the fourth (second) quintile for six or more mon ths. The event occurrence was non-periodic and the durations showed great v ariability. Warm events occur 17% of the time and cold events occur 15.5% o f the time. It was noticed that in general warm and cold events tend to beg in during the first semester of the year and end during the second semester .