News Finding: Mamalakis said the unexpected result was the discovery of persistent sea surface temperature and atmospheric pressure patterns in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that exhibited a strong correlation with precipitation in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Paper Finding: Accordingly, NZI is associated with a dipole pattern along the west coast of the US, which is evident in both zonal winds of the upper atmosphere, as well as in precipitation amounts (see Supplementary Fig.
News Context: "Our research also shows an amplification of this newly discovered teleconnection over the past four decades." Mamalakis said the unexpected result was the discovery of persistent sea surface temperature and atmospheric pressure patterns in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that exhibited a strong correlation with precipitation in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. "The discovery of an interhemispheric bridge that affects the winter U.S. jet stream holds the promise of improved precipitation predictability and drought forecasts."
Paper Context: In contrast, warm SSTs in the NZI region excite positive anomalies in the northwestern Pacific, deflecting the jet stream northward (at 45°-50°N), and leading to wet conditions over the northwestern US, and dry conditions in SWUS. Accordingly, NZI is associated with a dipole pattern along the west coast of the US, which is evident in both zonal winds of the upper atmosphere, as well as in precipitation amounts (see Supplementary Fig. 9 ).