Climate anomalies in the southern high latitudes associated with the Subtropical Dipole Mode

Climate anomalies in the southern high latitude associated with the Subtropical Dipole Mode (SDM) are investigated using a 23-year database consisting of SLP (sea level pressure), surface air temperature (SAT) and sea surface temperature (SST). The analysis depicts, for the first time, the spatial variability in the relationship of the above variables with the Subtropical Dipole Mode Index (SDI). It suggests that the SDM signal exists in the southern high latitudes and the correlation fields exhibit a wavenumber-3 pattern around the circumpolar Southern Ocean. Lead-lag correlation analysis used to the SLP, SAT, and SST anomalies with the SDI time series at the positive and negative correlation extremes shows that the southern-high-latitude climate responses to SDM almost instantaneously proposing the connection is by atmospheric and not by oceanic propagation.