A large-scale perspective on interannual variability in the environment in the South-East Atlantic

Interannual variability in the environment in the South-East Atlantic Ocean has been shown by various authors to influence significantly fish resources in the Benguela system. In this paper a large-scale perspective on the environmental variability in the area is provided. Monthly sea surface temperature anomaly distributions in the Atlantic and Indian oceans are shown to be useful in the context of the Benguela system, and a time-series of anomaly maps between mid 1983 and mid 1988 demonstrates the origin and evolution of the most important environmental perturbations during the 1980s.