Alcances de El Niño como predictor del caudal de los ríos andinos argentinos

This study aims to contribute to understanding the potentiality of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) as a watervolume predictor of Argentine Andean rivers, especially the SST anomaly over the equatorial Pacific sector (Nino3+4), and to determine the delay of such a potentiality at monthly-to-seasonal scales. An up-to-date concise review of the hydric regimes features of the rivers is presented. The correlation function is estimated between the water volume at the seasonal peak and delayed SSTs, which allow to discern four regions: 1) northern Cuyo, where Nino3+4 and water volumes are related around 14 months before the seasonal peak; 2) southern Cuyo, where the anticipation is about 8 months; 3) northern Patagonia, where the water volume and SSTs connection is concurrent; and 4) southern Patagonia, with similar features to those of northern Cuyo. For regions 1, 2 and 4, the correlation fields show typical El Nino/La Nina spatial patterns, confirming the connection between Pacific SST anomalies and precipitation over the Andes mountains.