The interaction between the sea surface temperature (SST) over the South Atlantic Ocean and the summertime convection over the South America and adjacent areas is studied by Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Singular Values Decomposition (SVD) and composites analysis. The dataset used are: SST from Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data (COADS), Outgoing Longwave Radiation from Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) and wind field from National Centers for Environment Prediction (NCEP) Reanalysis to the period of December-January-February (DJF) from 1979 to 2001. The results of this work show that the SST over the South Atlantic Ocean is associated with the summertime convection variability over the southern Northeast of Brazil and tropical South Atlantic. The analysis of Singular Values Decomposition and composite analysis show that the convection over the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) is associated with positive anomalies SST over the South Atlantic.
South America; sea surface temperature; convection; PCA; SVD
