Decadal variability of Russian winter snow accumulation and its associations with Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies

Russian winter snow depth data over a 48-year period (1936-1983) are analys ed to reveal variation characteristics and associations to Atlantic sea sur face temperature (SST) anomalies using methods of rotated principal compone nt analysis (RPCA), singular spectrum analysis (SSA), and singular value de composition (SVD) analysis. The study demonstrates that four time scales (4 years interannual, 11.8 yea rs quasidecadal, 20 years bi-decadal and trend) characterize Russian winter snow depth variations. The decadal and longer time scale variations are fo und to be significantly associated with Atlantic SST anomalies. The trend, which occurred over much of the study region, is associated with SST trends over the northern north and tropical south Atlantic. Bi-decadal snow depth variation over central Siberia is associated with western tropical north A tlantic SSTs. A quasi-decadal variation over western European Russia is con nected to a major Atlantic SST variation pattern of opposite signs over alt ernative latitudinal belts. This study suggests that the connections between the Atlantic Ocean and reg ional climate may be better reflected at decadal time scales than interannu al and seasonal ones, as the dominant variability over the ocean is at slow modes. Copyright (C) 2000 Royal Meteorological Society.