North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its relationship to rain in northern Libya
Abo Baker A. Al-habty and Mustafa A. Al-Mabrad, Department of Geography, , Al-Mergib University, Maslata, Libya.
Ali A. Abo-Hamrah, Department of Geography, Asmarya Islamic University, Zliten, Libya.
Abstract
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) plays a role an important in climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere, which effects on Europe, Northeast North America and North Africa climate, However, the previous studies have described the effect of the NAO on winter climate conditions in Europe, North Africa and a few regions. It is still unclear to what extent the North Atlantic Oscillation is related to the fluctuations of rain in northern Libya, so the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the NAO and rainfall in the north of Libya in the winter using correlation analysis. The results show that the influence of NAO on the amounts of rainfall and the winter rains were positively related to the whole region, and it is more closely related to Al-Asa and Zuwara which located in the west of study area. In addition, winter rains in March were weaker than in the winter in all study stations. Moreover, the results of the statistically significant relationship for the studied stations were P-Value less than (0.05) in 9 stations for the winter. While the winter rain with March rain was represented in only three stations in the northwest, this may explain air circulation did not correlate well with the NAO index.
Keywords:North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO, Rain, Libya.