Meteorologists have compiled a number of oceanic oscillations, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, which potentially have the some predictive power concerning weather regimes. Typically these are pressure differences between two points.

The term oscillation suggest that the condition might fluctuate between two extremes. For example, the oscillation for the Southern Pacific is said to be either in the El Niño or the La Niña conditions. The statistical studies cited below for four different oscillations show the reality to be quite different. In each case there is no indication of a bimodality of the statistical distributions. Instead all of the distributions are similar to the normal (Gaussian) distribution.

• The North Atlantic Oscillation: Theory and Observation

• A Cyclic Pattern in the North Atlantic Oscillation Index and Its Correspondence With Average Global Temperature

• Some Statistical Characteristics of the Arctic Oscillation Index 1899 to 2001

• Statistical Analysis of the Arctic Oscillation

• Statistical Analysis of the Pacific Multidecadal Oscillation

• Some Statistical Investigations of the El Niño Southern Oscillation Phenomenon