Temperature Cycles in North America, Greenland and the Arctic, Relationship to Multidecadal Ocean Cycles and Solar Trends

Like the PDO, the NAO and AO tend to be predominantly in one mode or in the other for decades at a time. There is a relationship between the AMO and these NAO/AO decadal tendencies. When the Atlantic is cold (AMO negative), the AO and NAO tend more often to the positive state, when the Atlantic is warm on the other hand, the NAO/AO tend to be more often negative. The AMO tripole of warmth in the 1960s below was associated with a predominantly negative NAO and AO while the cold phase was associated with a distinctly positive NAO and AO in the 1980s and early 1990s as can be seen in both figures 17 and 18.