Pacific Decadal Oscillation
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) os a robust, recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin. The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20 degree N. Over the past century, the amplitude of this climate pattern has varied irregularly at inter-annual- to-inter decadal time scales. There is evidence of reversals in the prevailing polarity of the oscillation occurring around 1925, 1947, and 1977; the last two reversals corresponded with dramatic shifts in salmon in the North Pacific Ocean. This climate patterns also affects coastal sea and continental surface air temperatures from Alaska to California. During a “warm” or “positive” phase, the west Pacific becomes cooler and part of the eastern ocean warms; during a “cool” or “negative” phase, the opposite pattern occurs. The pacific (inter-) Decadal Oscillation was named by Stevan R. Hare, who noticed it while studying salmon production pattern results in 1997.
