Sea‐surface temperature — South African rainfall associations, 1910–1989

The main features of sea‐surface temperature variability in the South Atlantic and the south‐west Indian Oceans are identified and their interaction with the Southern Oscillation discussed. Most of the variance is explained by coherent features of variability in the South Atlantic Ocean. Tropical and subtropical features dominate the variance, but this may be partly a reflection of data availability. Many of the principal components are associated with rainfall over southern Africa and the strongest associations occur with sea‐surface temperatures in the western equatorial Indian Ocean, the Agulhas system, and the central South Atlantic Ocean. Copyright © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd