Interdecadal Trend and ENSO-Related Interannual Variability in Southern Hemisphere Blocking
Abstract The interdecadal trend and ENSO-related interannual variability in the frequency and intensity of atmospheric blocking in the Southern Hemisphere are analyzed by a statistical model that takes account of serial correlation in the datasets. Results suggest that an autoregressive process AR(1) fits the error term of the Southern Hemisphere blocking occurrence series, and a white-noise process AR(0) fits the error term of the Southern Hemisphere blocking intensity series reasonably well. It is found that the Southern Hemisphere blocking days have decreased over the past 52 yr (1948–99) but with an enhanced intensity. In addition, the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking is found to occur more frequently in the warm phase of ENSO cycles, whereas the intensity of the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking does not appear to be affected by ENSO cycles.