CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The paper concentrates on the analysis of the rainfall interannual variability in the Southern Andes. Besides the socio-economic relevance of the regions, mainly associated with hydroelectric energy production, the study of the climate variability in that region has not received as much attention as other regions of the Andes. Results found that winter rainfall explains the largest percentage of regional total annuals. A principal component analysis of the winter rainfall anomalies showed that the regional year-to-year variability is mostly explained by three leading patterns. While one of them is significantly associated with both, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and, the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), the other two patterns are related significantly with interannual changes of the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the tropical Indian Ocean. The lagged relationship between variability in the Indian Ocean and the Andes climate variability has not been previously addressed yet. Therefore, such result makes a significant contribution to the identification of the sources of predictability in South America with relevant consequences for future applications in seasonal predictions.