Positive AMO Losing Grip

The positive Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) appears to be losing its grip on the waters near Greenland in the past month.

Above shows a side-by-side comparison of water temperatures on October 17th and November 14th. If we look on the left side (October 17), we see a wide swath of above normal water temperatures stretching from Greenland, through northern Canada and to the waters south of Greenland. The waters off the East Coast also showed heavy warming during that time period. If we look to the right image, taken on November 14th, we now see neutral water temperatures in place around much of Greenland and in Northern Canada. However, waters remain warm to the east of eastern Canada, and have actually intensified off the coast of the Northeast US.

What is setting up here is something called the Atlantic Tripole. In a nutshell, the Atlantic Tripole is shown by cool waters off the coast of the Northeast and East Coast, warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and southeast Atlantic, and warmer than normal water temperatures in the Greenland waters. Below are temperature and precipitation anomalies during the Atlantic Tripole.

Temperature Anomaly

Precipitation Anomaly

Andrew