SIMULATION OF THE NORTH-ATLANTIC OSCILLATION IN A GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL

The year to year variations of winter climate of the North Atlantic region including Northern Europe, Northwest Africa, and North America are largely controlled by the phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). We have found that a coupled ocean-atmosphere General Circulation Model simulates not only the NAO, but its observed influences on precipitation in northwest Africa, thereby showing that explanations of regional scale climatic variations may be found through diagnoses of such model simulations.