Talk:Climate pattern

OK, I don't like the identification of "climate pattern" and "mode of variability". I'd call summer being warmer than winter a climate pattern. But not a mode of variability. All the examples listed look like modes of var to me. Could we have the redirect the other way round, if they need to be linked William M. Connolley (talk) 10:21, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's how the source characterized it: "The pattern [thermohaline circulation] is the third most powerful mode of variability (hence, EOF No. 3), following variability associated with the annual cycle and El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO)."[1]

What we could do is have the article be about climate patterns in general, with a fat section specifically about modes of variability, and have the redirect mode of variability point to that section.--Father Goose (talk) 10:58, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't call it a climate pattern though :-). This is only a minor quibble by me. I don't mind much. Let's flesh out the article and see how it goes and worry about renaming it later if at all William M. Connolley (talk) 11:05, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. I've taken the article about as far as I can with my very minimal knowledge of the subject, though maybe at some point I'll learn more and add more.--Father Goose (talk) 11:11, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Having just added seasonal cycle to the page, and discovered it undefined, I searched for Climate cycle and discovered it covers some of the same ground as this article William M. Connolley (talk) 11:45, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

So it does. We could consider merging that article into this one, on the premise that "climate cycles" are one form of climate pattern. Meanwhile, seasonal variation is a pure statistics/business article which ought to be merged with seasonality; if that's ever accomplished, it should probably be turned into a disambiguation page pointing to seasonality and seasonal cycle.

I see quite a number of sources refer to ENSO and other MoVs as "climate patterns". Admittedly, none of them appear to be climate science specialists, including the geology page you pointed to. So I'd like to treat it as an informal, popular term for anything that fits the description of a "climate pattern", and have the article provide an overview of the informal definition of the term as well as more formally defined terms, such as MoV.--Father Goose (talk) 20:13, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. There is another sense, and or source of confusion, in that ENSO is sort-of a spatial pattern, that fades in and out on the cycle. But it isn't really seperable; it isn't F(X,t)=G(X)H(t), if you see what I mean William M. Connolley (talk) 20:22, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]