We're currently in the coldest Pacific Decadal Oscillation since 1955. Per NOAA, cool phase PDO means colder nearshore (relative term) in the NE Pacific. This is largely responsible for the cold/wet spring we're still having and presumably better ocean conditions for salmon, steelhead and other cool water species. Maybe not such great news for upcoming albacore season since it also leads to more upwelling. As we saw last summer there was green water (food) much further offshore than usual, and in spite of plenty of tuna, not many players. Hoping for the best, but I'm preparing myself for another tough season.
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is often described as a long-lived El Niño-like pattern of Pacific climate variability (Zhang et al. 1997). As seen with the better-known El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), extremes in the PDO pattern are marked by widespread variations in the Pacific Basin and the North American climate. In parallel with the ENSO phenomenon, the extreme phases of the PDO have been classified as being either warm or cool, as defined by ocean temperature anomalies in the northeast and tropical Pacific Ocean. When SSTs are anomalously cool in the interior North Pacific and warm along the Pacific Coast, and when sea level pressures are below average over the North Pacific, the PDO has a positive value. When the climate anomaly patterns are reversed, with warm SST anomalies in the interior and cool SST anomalies along the North American coast, or above average sea level pressures over the North Pacific, the PDO has a negative value (Courtesy of Mantua, 1999).
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation is the Coldest Since 1955
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