Inter-basin Teleconnections in the Annual Mean Sea Surface Temperature Field

Inter-basin interactions are a pivotal driver of the global climate system. By employing the inter-basin teleconnectivity (IBT) analysis, this study systematically investigates the dominant simultaneous inter-basin linkages across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans in the annual mean sea surface temperature field. We identify 11 distinct inter-basin teleconnections (IBTs), which include two previously recognized patterns, i.e. the boundary current synchronization (BCS) and South Atlantic-South Indian Ocean synchronization (SASI), along with nine new potential IBTs. Two of these new IBTs respectively represent the inter-basin linkages of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Indian Ocean Basin Mode (IOB) with other ocean basins.​ We mainly analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the remaining IBTs, namely the Bay of Bengal-South Atlantic synchronization (BBSA), Northwest Atlantic-Southeast Indian Ocean seesaw (NASI), Caribbean Sea-Southwest Indian Ocean seesaw (CSSI), Southwest Pacific-Southeast America synchronization (SPSA), North Pacific-South Atlantic seesaw (NPSA), North Tropical Indo-Pacific seesaw (NTIP), and Southern Hemispheric Tripole (SHT). The results demonstrate that these IBTs are statistically relatively independent of some known climate modes and exhibit distinct quasi-periodic characteristics on interannual to decadal timescales. These findings enhance our understanding about inter-basin linkages and interactions.