Influencia del fenómeno ENSO sobre la precipitación nival en el sector andino de Chile central durante el invierno

The influence of El Niño/Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO) on winter snow accumulation over the subtropical Andes in Central Chile is analyzed using records of snow accumulation at specific sites between 30° S and 38° S and the sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in the region Niño 3 as an index for the intensity of warm and cold episodes in the central equatorial Pacific. Anomalously large snow accumulation tend to occur in the andean sector to the north of 35° S when the magnitude of a positive SST anomaly surpasses +1.0°C during the austral winter (May-August). On the contrary, less than normal snow accumulation is generally observed in this sector when a negative SST anomaly exceeding -0.5° C prevails. No significant signal associated to ENSO was detected in the winter snow accumulation at andean sites to the south of 35° S.