Pacific Decadal Oscillation

First published: 2018

Brief summary

NOAA page introducing the PDO and decadal North Pacific variability.

Article

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation is a pattern of sea-surface temperature variability in the North Pacific. Its positive and negative phases are identified from broad spatial temperature anomalies rather than from the temperature at a single location.

In a positive phase, waters along the west coast of North America tend to be warmer than average while parts of the central North Pacific are cooler. The negative phase generally reverses this pattern.

The PDO varies on interannual to decadal timescales and can remain predominantly in one phase for several years. It is related to atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific and can be affected by tropical Pacific variability, including ENSO.

PDO indices are calculated from observed sea-surface temperature anomalies after removing the global mean pattern. The index is used to monitor North Pacific climate variability and to examine associations with marine ecosystems, precipitation, temperature and fisheries.

Source details and credits

• Source / publisher: NOAA NCEI
• Source type: Data portal
• URL type: WWW
• Credits: NOAA NCEI
• URL: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/pdo/