Spatial distribution of correlation coefficients between winter surface temperatures in the continental US and air pressure anomalies near the Aleutian Islands. The image on the left was calculated by Glint from a coupled ocean-atmosphere numerical model, the one on the right from observed data. Thus the numerical model's winter climate over the US is well correlated to the model's pressure anomalies over the Aleutians. For instance, as Figure 2 shows, the model result just described can be visually compared with empirical data. The pattern agrees well with that of the numerical model on the left, with negative correlations along the west coast and positive correlations in the southeastern U. S., although the magnitudes are smaller.
Glint can also decompose a time series into empirical orthogonal functions and principal components.
The pattern is that of El Nino, a coherent warming of the Pacific Ocean which starts at the west coast of South America and stretches thousands of kilometers along the equator. The El Nino of late 1982 and early 1983 was particularly intense and caused widespread climate perturbations over North America. Visualization of the variability in observed ocean surface temperatures during the decade of the 1980s reveals a manifestation of El Nino, the strong feature stretching east to west along the equator. Red shows regions of strong warming during El Nino events, blue shows regions of weak or no warming. We have been using Glint internally on DEC Alpha workstations for about six months, and hope to start distributing it soon to other sites.