Evidence for 18.6 year MN signal in temperature and drought conditions in North America since AD 1800
- 20 November 1981
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
- Vol. 86 (C11) , 11055-11064
- https://doi.org/10.1029/jc086ic11p11055
Abstract
Evidence for the 18.6 year lunar nodal MN term in air temperature is found at 30 stations in eastern North America. Since AD 1800 the mean discrepancy in epoch between maxima in temperature and maxima in the Drought Area Index (DAI) for the western United States vis‐a‐vis, the maxima in the MN tide is 0.9 and 0.1 yr, respectively. Also, a cluster of 9 stations in western Canada yields the 18.6 yr term which is out of phase with stations in eastern North America and is indicative of a standing tidal wave in the atmosphere. This suggests that enhanced drought conditions in the western United States are neither ‘recurrent’ nor ‘rhythmic’ on a time scale of 20 yr, but rather periodic with a period of 18.6 yr. Finally, the Rocky Mountain system is seen as an influence for atmospheric tidal phenomena at epochs of maximum in the MN tide as well as for maxima in the temperature records and the DAI.This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Solar Cycle Signal in Air Temperature in North America: Amplitude, Gradient, Phase and DistributionJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1981
- Effect of the fluid core on changes in the length of day due to long period tidesGeophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1981
- Solar Cycle Signal in Earth Rotation: Nonstationary BehaviorScience, 1981
- Solar luminosity and the sunspot cycleNature, 1979
- Atmospheric TidesAnnual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1979
- The Spectrum of Sea Level from 4 to 40 YearsGeophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1976
- Climatic implications of the D/H ratio of hydrogen in C-H groups in tree celluloseEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1976
- Lunar terms in the geomagnetic spectrum at HermanusJournal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, 1975
- Maximum entropy spectral analysis and autoregressive decompositionReviews of Geophysics, 1975
- Lunar daily harmonic geomagnetic variation as indicated by spectral analysisJournal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, 1969