Abstract
An index of Pacific decadal variability based on a multivariate empirical orthogonal function analysis of National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis is used to extract associated signals in satellite‐based measurements of atmospheric parameters. This index captures the 1976–1977 “El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)‐like” warming shift of sea surface temperatures (SST) as well as a more recent transition of opposite sign in the 1990s. Utilizing measurements of water vapor, wind speed, precipitation, long‐wave radiation, as well as surface observations, our analysis shows evidence of the atmospheric changes in the mid‐1990s that accompanied the “ENSO‐like” interdecadal SST changes.
