Teleconnections between Indian monsoon and Sahel rainfall and the Mediterranean

The teleconnections with Indian monsoon and Sahel rainfall indices are investigated here on an interannual time scale in terms of meteorological and marine dynamics over the Mediterranean area. Sea-level pressure from gridded data sets and from individual stations, together with sea-level data from stations all around the Mediterranean coastlines, are used. In summer (July-August-September, JAS) the sea-level pressure field over the eastern Mediterranean anticorrelates with the Indian monsoon index (correlation coefficient C = -0.5 on average). A Mediterranean pressure index (MPI), defined as the standardized difference between sea-level atmospheric pressure at Mersa Matruh (southeastern Mediterranean) and Marseille (northwestern Mediterranean) stations, anticorrelates with Indian monsoon index even more (C = -0.68). The MPI is proportional to the mean geostrophic surface flow field across an imaginary line joining the two stations and turns out to be significantly correlated with the meridional wind component over the eastern Mediterranean, known as the low-level Etesian wind regime. This wind regime represents the inflow surface field into the African inter-tropical convergence zone and, therefore, has an association with the Indian monsoon regime. The ocean response, evident by sea-level anomalies at coastal stations, shows a maximum anticorrelation with Indian monsoon index in late summer and autumn (September-October-November, SON). The Sahel index anticorrelates with sea-level pressure, with the maximum absolute value in June-July-August. This may be interpreted as a tendency of the Mediterranean sea-level pressure anomalies to precede those of Sahel precipitation, which is characterized by maximum rainfall in July-September. The MPI anticorrelates with Sahel index during and before JAS, indicating that the Etesian wind regime intensity is connected to Sahel rainfall. The sea level again anticorrelates with the Sahel index, with the maximum absolute value in SON, as for the sea-level-Indian monsoon correlation. © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society.