Influence of sea surface temperature on soil moisture and precipitation interactions over the southwest

[1] This paper presents a hypothesis that soil moisture (SM) and precipitation (P) interactions over the Southwest depend on sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs). On the basis of moisture transport and geography, the Southwest can be separated into two regions. The western region (32°–36°N, 107.5°–113°W) includes Arizona and western New Mexico and the eastern region (32°–36°N, 103°–107°W) includes eastern New Mexico. For both regions, years from 1900 to 2004 are classified based on the winter to summer P evolution. When winter and the following summer P anomalies have an inverse relationship, SSTAs do not persist. The summer SSTAs have strong influence on P. Soil moisture does not play a major role in modulating P anomalies. For cases that wetness (dryness) occurs in both winter and the following summer, the SSTA forcing associated with the P regime tends to persist. Positive SM-P feedbacks enhance P anomalies. For eastern New Mexico, there is a linear relationship between SM anomalies in spring and P anomalies in summer when SSTAs persist.

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