North Atlantic oscillation
Sign in to saveweather phenomenon in the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of atmospheric pressure at sea level between the Icelandic Low and the Azores High
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- Instance of
- Climate oscillation
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- North Atlantic Oscillation
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- WikiProject Climate change
- different from
- Atlantic multidecadal oscillation
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Encyclopedic overview
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is a weather phenomenon over the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of atmospheric pressure at sea level (SLP) between the Icelandic Low and the Azores High. Through fluctuations in the strength of the Icelandic Low and the Azores High, it controls the strength and direction of westerly winds and location of storm tracks across the North Atlantic.
The NAO was discovered through several studies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Unlike the El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, the NAO is a largely atmospheric mode. It is one of the most important manifestations of climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic and surrounding humid climates.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “North Atlantic oscillation” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.