Historical Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)
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- Visualizations by:
- Helen-Nicole Kostis
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- Written by:
- Ellen T. Gray
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Tianle Yuan
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- Produced by:
- Kathryn Mersmann
- View full credits
Data Sources:
- Atlantic Mutlidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index. The AMO Index is a monthly index of the North Atlantic temperatures from 1856 to present. This data visualization utilized the smoothed, long version of the AMO index. The data is available here: https://psl.noaa.gov/data/timeseries/AMO/
- Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) v5 (global monthly dataset). Data Citation: Boyin Huang, Peter W. Thorne, Viva F. Banzon, Tim Boyer, Gennady Chepurin, Jay H. Lawrimore, Matthew J. Menne, Thomas M. Smith, Russell S. Vose, and Huai-Min Zhang (2017): NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST), Version 5. [Subset used: 1854-2020]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi: 10.7289/V5T72FNM. [access date: February 2020].
For the purposes of this visualization the science team derived Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (from ERSST v5) for the North Atlantic region (0-80N) for the period 1900-2005. - Blue Marble: Next Generation was produced by Reto Stöckli, NASA Earth Observatory (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). Citation: Reto Stöckli, Eric Vermote, Nazmi Saleous, Robert Simmon and David Herring.
The Blue Marble Next Generation – A true color earth dataset including seasonal dynamics from MODIS, October 17, 2005. - Global 30 Arc-Second Elevation (GTOPO 30) from USGS. doi: 10.5066/F7DF6PQS
The rest of this webpage offers additional versions, frames, layers and colorbar information, associated with the development of this data-driven visualization.

This set of frames provides the animated timeplot for the period 1900-2005. The timeplot visualizes the smoothed Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index over the region in the North Atlantic with extents 0-80N.
Frames include the labels of Cool and Warm Phases to highlight the pattern and duration of events during the period 1900-2005. Frames are provided with transparency.
For More Information
See NASA.gov
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Visualizer
- Helen-Nicole Kostis (USRA) [Lead]
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Writer
- Ellen T. Gray (NASA/HQ) [Lead]
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Scientists
- Tianle Yuan (UMBC) [Lead]
- Amato Evan (University of California, San Diego)
- David McGee (MIT)
- Hongbin Yu (JCET UMBC)
- Joel Norris (University of California, San Diego)
- Kerry G. Meyer (NASA/GSFC)
- Lazaros Oreopoulos (NASA/GSFC)
- Lorraine Remer (NASA/GSFC)
- Mark Zelinka (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
- Mian Chin (NASA/GSFC)
- Steven Platnick (NASA/GSFC)
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Producers
- Kathryn Mersmann (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
- Lara Streiff (GSFC Interns)
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Project support
- Eric Sokolowsky (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
- Leann Johnson (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Papers used in this visualization
Yuan T, Yu H, Chin M, Remer LA, McGee D, Evan A. Anthropogenic Decline of African Dust: Insights From the Holocene Records and Beyond. Geophysical research letters. 2020 Nov 28;47(22):e2020GL089711. doi:10.1029/2020GL089711
Yuan T, Oreopoulos L, Zelinka M, Yu H, Norris JR, Chin M, Platnick S, Meyer K. Positive low cloud and dust feedbacks amplify tropical North Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Geophysical Research Letters. 2016 Feb 16;43(3):1349-56. doi:10.1002/2016GL067679
Datasets used in this visualization
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GTOPO30 Topography and Bathymetry
ID: 274 -
Terra and Aqua BMNG (Blue Marble: Next Generation)
ID: 508Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
This dataset can be found at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
See all pages that use this dataset -
AMO Index (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index)
ID: 1114This dataset can be found at: https://psl.noaa.gov/data/timeseries/AMO/
See all pages that use this dataset -
ERSST v5 (Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) v5)
ID: 1115This dataset can be found at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc:C00927
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.