Large-Scale Relationships between Sea Surface Temperature and Surface Air Temperature

Abstract

Empirical relationships between the sea surface temperature (SST) and surface air temperatures (SAT) are examined on monthly, seasonal and annual time scales for Marsden square areas in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic. On these time scales SST and SAT have roughly the same variance throughout the sample region. They are well correlated (contemporaneously) with warm seasons and months having slightly higher correlations than cold ones. For the most part, the spatial patterns and temporal changes in these statistics are similar between the North Atlantic and North Pacific.