Interannual rainfall variability in the Amazon basin and sea‐surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific and the tropical Atlantic Oceans

Abstract Rainfall variability in the Amazon basin is studied in relation to sea‐surface temperatures (SSTs) in the equatorial Pacific and the northern and southern tropical Atlantic during the 1977–99 period, using the HiBAm original rainfall data set and complementary cluster and composite analyses. The northeastern part of the basin, north of 5 °S and east of 60 °W, is significantly related with tropical SSTs: a rainier wet season is observed when the equatorial Pacific and the northern (southern) tropical Atlantic are anomalously cold (warm). A shorter and drier wet season is observed during El Niño events and negative rainfall anomalies are also significantly associated with a warm northern Atlantic in the austral autumn and a cold southern Atlantic in the spring. The northeastern Amazon rainfall anomalies are closely related with El Niño–southern oscillation during the whole year, whereas the relationships with the tropical Atlantic SST anomalies are mainly observed during the autumn. A time–space continuity is observed between El Niño‐related rainfall anomalies in the northeastern Amazon, those in the northern Amazon and south‐eastern Amazon, and those in northern South America and in the Nordeste of Brazil. A reinforcement of certain rainfall anomalies is observed when specific oceanic events combine. For instance, when El Niño and cold SSTs in the southern Atlantic are associated, very strong negative anomalies are observed in the whole northern Amazon basin. Nonetheless, the comparison of the cluster and the composite analyses results shows that the rainfall anomalies in the northeastern Amazon are not always associated with tropical SST anomalies. In the southern and western Amazon, significant tropical SST‐related rainfall anomalies are very few and spatially variable. The precipitation origins differ from those of the northeastern Amazon: land temperature variability, extratropical perturbations and moisture advection are important rainfall factors, as well as SSTs. This could partially explain why: (a) the above‐mentioned signals weaken or disappear, with the exception of the relative dryness that is observed at the peak of an El Niño event and during the dry season when northern Atlantic SSTs are warmer than usual; (b) rainfall anomalies tend to resemble those of southeastern South America, noticeably at the beginning and the end of El Niño and La Niña events; (c) some strong excesses of rain are not associated with any SST anomalies and merit further investigation. Copyright © 2002 Royal Meteorological Society.