Atmosphere Teleconnection Patterns
Atmospheric patterns are preferred states of flow in the atmosphere. For example, a preferred state in the North Atlantic region is a north/south dipole in temperature called the "North Atlantic Oscillation". These preferred patterns are the complex result of the interaction between mountains, oceans, surface boundary conditions, atmospheric dynamics and instability and other processes. Characteristic flow regimes are often associated with the patterns which can make it possible to say something about what temperature and precipitation will be over a region both concurrently and sometimes on the future. In addition, some of these patterns are themselves predictable (e.g. the Southern Oscillation Index) which will assist in forecasts of the atmosphere.How patterns are determined
The fact that there are relationships between different regions in temperature and pressure in the atmosphere has been noted by many researchers (eg. Walker, Bjerknes, Namias). The first scientists to more precisely define these relationships were Wallace and Gutzler(1981). They looked at something called "teleconnections" in the atmosphere. This is defined as the link between regions that were highly positively or negatively correlated with each other in time. For example, the Western North American coast tends to be in the opposite state as that of the southeastern US. By looking at the location of the center of these correlations, they were able to define flow patterns by specifying the time series of a combination of grids (locations) on the globe. These time series could then be related to the data in the atmosphere.Much work has been done in investigating these patterns including finding more of them, better defining them, and investigating their cause and effects.