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ALMA MEMO #433
2002: The Driest and Coldest Summer
R. Bustos (CBI Project)
2002/09/06
This memo reports NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis results for the southern hemisphere summer of 2002 (December 2001 - March 2002). The data shows a very low amount of PWV as well as low temperatures, indicating that it has been the driest and coldest summer for the last 50 years. The results confirm the previous conclusions about interannual variability of PWV during the austral summer and that there is no climatological trend of increasing PWV for the Chajnantor area. The Reanalysis data of the surface temperature shows a decrease in average temperatures during the last three years. A direct relationship between the fraction of time when winds from the east are present and the average amount of PWV is also obtained. As we have previously shown there are two different seasons with different origins at the site: the summer (mid-December to mid-March) is related to a change in the region's circulation and presents a high amount of PWV with the presence of easterly winds, and the winter (April to November) is more related to ENSO and the Pacific Ocean activities.
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Last modified: 2002-09-12
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