Climate variations in the tropical Atlantic ocean are of high importance at both regional and global scales. Regionally, there is a strong impact of tropical Atlantic variability (TAV) on precipitation over Africa and South America and on upwelling systems. At the global scale, TAV is able to impact adjacent ocean basins, thereby e.g. increasing ENSO predictability. However, coupled models still fail to reproduce the tropical Atlantic seasonal cycle, variability and teleconnections. A strong effort is made by the scientific community to better understand the underlying mechanisms.

This session is devoted to the understanding of tropical Atlantic climate variability on time scales from interannual to multi-decadal with a special focus on impacts and teleconnections. We invite contributions regarding drivers of tropical Atlantic variability and its modulation on multi-decadal time scales, its impacts on rainfall and upwelling systems, including extremes, interactions with other ocean basins, and applications for climate services. Studies based on model simulations as well as direct observations, reanalysis or reconstructions are welcome.