V. V. Efimov, A. V. Prusov, and M. V. Shokurov
Marine Hydrophysical Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
ul. Lenina 28, Sevastopol, Crimea, 335000 Ukraine
Received July 17, 1997; in final form, December 10, 1997
Abstract—Spatiotemporal patterns of decadal variability in sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, and
surface wind speed are obtained from the COADS data set by the cluster analysis technique. Sequences of typ-
ical structures and their coupling over the last 42 years are examined. On decadal time scales, the pressure and
wind anomaly fields are found to roughly satisfy the geostrophic balance. A mode associated with the well-
known North Atlantic Oscillation is identified in these fields. Other modes of decadal variability—the tropical
dipole, the subtropical-gyre mode, and the thermohaline mode in the high-latitude North Atlantic—are found
in SST anomalies. The global dipole SST mode for the entire Atlantic Ocean is interpreted from the standpoint
of the variability in the intensity of the Atlantic branch of the global interoceanic thermohaline circulation (the
conveyer belt). A difference in this coupling for the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is noted.
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