Identification

Title

A simple subtropical high‐pressure system index over the South Atlantic

Abstract

This research introduces a novel index for the South Atlantic High Pressure (SAHP) system to enhance understanding of regional climate variability and change. Subtropical highs significantly influence regional climates, yet comprehensive indices to measure their behaviours are lacking. Utilizing ERA5 reanalysis data from 1940 to 2023, the proposed index estimates a weighted centroid of the area surrounding the maximum sea level pressure within a 3 hPa range. This method ensures robustness and flexibility in contiguous area estimation specific to subtropical high events. Results showed the index effectively reflects the position and intensity of the SAHP. The study reveals that latitudinal variability of the SAHP has a strong unimodal structure, whereas longitudinal variability exhibits a bimodal structure. Seasonal patterns of the index show noticeable changes, with winter (JJA) and spring (SON) months having relatively high index values compared to summer (DJF) and autumn (MAM) months, underscoring the intra‐annual variability of the SAHP index. During ENSO events, the mean centroid position of the SAHP shifts significantly, moving westwards and polewards during El Niño and showing greater stability during La Niña. The index, with minimal computation requirements and flexibility, can be applied across diverse datasets, aiding in the assessment of future subtropical high changes.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7z03dfr

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2024-11-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

<style type="text/css"></style><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;font-style:normal;" data-sheets-root="1">Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</span>

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-07-10T19:57:31.082566

Metadata language

eng; USA