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If you recall from our first slide that there is a gradient of low-to-high SLP from north to south along the eastern Gulf of Alaska coast. This pressure pattern implies the transport of warm moist air from the southwest to the northeast, and is one of the reasons for the high precipitation rates along the rim of the Gulf. We looked at the sea level pressure difference at all possible pairs of stations around the North Pacific, and have determined that the correlation of the pressure difference is highest with respect to Royer's FWD time series for the grid points closest to Ketchikan and Seward. This has allowed us to use the SLP time series as a proxy for FWD in the Gulf of Alaska and thus allows us to say something about the coastal flow field for all years in the 20th century. Our FWT model in fact explains half of the observed variance when we apply only the FWD time series as an input.

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