Daily 500 hPa and 1000 hPa geopotential height fields and daily minimum and maximum temperatures in Argentina. Emphasis on the relationship with the Subtropical Pacific Ocean's oceanic phases

Daily maps of 500 hPa and 1000 hPa geopotential height from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) are analyzed in the period 1979-1993 in a region involving Argentina (52.5-85 W, 22.5 - 52.5 S). The main objective is to find a daily pattern distribution that can be associated with rainfall patterns and daily extreme temperatures in surface. Initially a fraction of the period was taken to estimate coherence between the re-analyses and real data (seven years) so as to determine the effect of the re-analyses. This is made in locations near radiosonde stations. Then, month-to-month correspondence among the patterns obtained is analyzed in the two levels under study. Correspondences of one pattern in one level with more than one pattern in the other level are discussed.

Furthermore, the annual variation of pattern distributions is obtained to be related to that of the minimum and maximum daily temperatures in reference stations. Properties of the series are obtained so as to relate simultaneous occurrence of episodes or circulation waves associated to other cold or warm ones in minimum and maximum surface temperatures.

Three different samples -years of NIÑO, NIÑA and NORMAL -are analyzed so as to single out potential associations among those events and occurrences of certain types of situations at 500 and 1000 hPa circulations as well as specific ranges of extreme temperatures in Argentina