A comparison of sea surface salinity in the equatorial Pacific Ocean during the 1997–1998, 2012–2013, and 2014–2015 ENSO events

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 3513-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline M. Corbett ◽  
Bulusu Subrahmanyam ◽  
Benjamin S. Giese
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Equatorial Pacific Ocean ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
Enso Events

Isolation of sea surface salinity maps on various timescales in the tropical Pacific Ocean

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 687-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Chen ◽  
Ren Zhang ◽  
Huizan Wang ◽  
Yuzhu An ◽  
Peng Peng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Tropical Pacific Ocean ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

scholarly journals INTRA-SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF NEAR-BOTTOM CURRENT IN THE HALMAHERA SEA

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlin C Wattimena ◽  
Agus S Atmadipoera ◽  
Mulia Purba ◽  
Ariane Koch-Larrouy
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Seasonal Variability ◽  
Sea Surface Height ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Bottom Current ◽  
Equatorial Pacific Ocean ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Zonal Winds

The secondary entry portal of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) from the Pacific to Indian Oceans is considered to be via the Halmahera Sea (HS). However, few ITF studies have been done within the passage. This motivated the Internal Tides and Mixing in the Indonesian Througflow (INDOMIX) program to conduct direct measurements of currents and its variability across the eastern path of the ITF. This study focused on the intra-seasonal variability of near-bottom current in HS (129°E, 0°S), its origin and correlation with surface zonal winds and sea surface height over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The result showed a strong northwestward mean flow with velocity exceeding 40 cm/s, which represented the current-following topography with the northwest orientation. Meridional current component was much stronger than the zonal component. The energy of power spectral density (PSD) of the current peaked on 14-days and 27-days periods. The first period was presumably related to the tidal oscillation, but the latter may be associated with surface winds perturbation. Furthermore, cross-PSD revealed a significant coherency between the observed currents and the surface zonal winds in the central equatorial Pacific zonal winds (180°E-160°W), which corroborates westward propagation of intra-seasonal sea surface height signals along the 5°S with its mean phase speeds of 50 cm/s, depicting the low-latitude westward Rossby waves on intra-seasonal band. Keywords: current, equatorial Pacific Ocean,  zonal winds, sea surface height, Halmahera Sea

Precipitation and sea-surface salinity in the tropical Pacific Ocean

1996 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 1123-1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Delcroix ◽  
Christian Henin ◽  
Véronique Porte ◽  
Phillip Arkin
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Tropical Pacific Ocean ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

scholarly journals New insights of <i>p</i>CO<sub>2</sub> variability in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean using SMOS SSS

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 4595-4625 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. W. Brown ◽  
J. Boutin ◽  
L. Merlivat
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Oceanic Circulation ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
Partial Pressures

Abstract. Complex oceanic circulation and air–sea interaction make the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETPO) a highly variable source of CO2 to the atmosphere. Although the scientific community have amassed 70 000 surface partial-pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) datapoints within the ETPO region over the past 25 years, the spatial and temporal resolution of this dataset is insufficient to fully quantify the seasonal to inter-annual variability of the region, a region where pCO2 has been observed to fluctuate by >300 μatm. Upwelling and rainfall events dominate the surface physical and chemical characteristics of the ETPO, with both yielding unique signatures in sea surface temperature and salinity. Thus, we explore the potential of using a statistical description of pCO2 within sea-surface salinity-temperature space. These SSS/SST relationships are based on in-situ SOCAT data collected within the ETPO. This statistical description is then applied to high resolution (0.25°) SMOS sea surface salinity and OSTIA sea surface temperature in order to compute regional pCO2. As a result, we are able to resolve pCO2 at sufficiently high resolution to elucidate the influence various physical processes have on the pCO2 of the surface ETPO. Normalised (to 2014) oceanic pCO2 between July 2010 and June 2014 within the entire ETPO was 41 μatm supersaturated with respect to 2014 atmospheric partial pressures. Values of pCO2 within the ETPO were found to be broadly split between southeast and a northwest regions. The north west, central and South Equatorial Current regions were supersaturated, with wintertime wind jet driven upwelling found to be the first order control on pCO2 values. This contrasts with the southeastern/Gulf of Panama region, where heavy rainfall combined with rapid stratification of the upper water-column act to dilute dissolved inorganic carbon, and yield pCO2 values undersaturated with respect to atmospheric partial pressures of CO2.

scholarly journals Assessment of interannual sea surface salinity variability and its effects on the barrier layer in the equatorial Pacific using BNU-ESM

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai Zhi ◽  
Rong-Hua Zhang ◽  
Fei Zheng ◽  
Pengfei Lin ◽  
Lanning Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Barrier Layer ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
Salinity Variability

scholarly journals Interdecadal Sea Surface Temperature Variability in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Part I: The Role of Off-Equatorial Wind Stresses and Oceanic Rossby Waves

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 2643-2658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shayne McGregor ◽  
Neil J. Holbrook ◽  
Scott B. Power
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Thermocline Depth ◽  
Equatorial Pacific Ocean ◽  
Equatorial Thermocline ◽  
The Western Pacific

Abstract The Australian Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre CGCM and a linear first baroclinic-mode ocean shallow-water model (SWM) are used to investigate ocean dynamic forcing mechanisms of the equatorial Pacific Ocean interdecadal sea surface temperature (SST) variability. An EOF analysis of the 13-yr low-pass Butterworth-filtered SST anomalies from a century-time-scale CGCM simulation reveals an SST anomaly spatial pattern and time variability consistent with the interdecadal Pacific oscillation. Results from an SWM simulation forced with wind stresses from the CGCM simulation are shown to compare well with the CGCM, and as such the SWM is then used to investigate the roles of “uncoupled” equatorial wind stress forcing, off-equatorial wind stress forcing (OffEqWF), and Rossby wave reflection at the western Pacific Ocean boundary, on the decadal equatorial thermocline depth anomalies. Equatorial Pacific wind stresses are shown to explain a large proportion of the overall variance in the equatorial thermocline depth anomalies. However, OffEqWF beyond 12.5° latitude produces an interdecadal signature in the Niño-4 (Niño-3) region that explains approximately 10% (1.5%) of the filtered control simulation variance. Rossby wave reflection at the western Pacific boundary is shown to underpin the OffEqWF contribution to these equatorial anomalies. The implications of this result for the predictability of the decadal variations of thermocline depth are investigated with results showing that OffEqWF generates an equatorial response in the Niño-3 region up to 3 yr after the wind stress forcing is switched off. Further, a statistically significant correlation is found between thermocline depth anomalies in the off-equatorial zone and the Niño-3 region, with the Niño-3 region lagging by approximately 2 yr. The authors conclude that there is potential predictability of the OffEqWF equatorial thermocline depth anomalies with lead times of up to 3 yr when taking into account the amplitudes and locations of off-equatorial region Rossby waves.

scholarly journals Climate Variability in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean Induced by Decadal Variability of Mixing Coefficient

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1163-1176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuan Jiang Huang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Rui Xin Huang
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Energy Input ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Equatorial Pacific Ocean ◽  
Diapycnal Mixing ◽  
Mixing Coefficient

Abstract The circulation in the equatorial Pacific Ocean is studied in a series of numerical experiments based on an isopycnal coordinate model. The model is subject to monthly mean climatology of wind stress and surface thermohaline forcing. In response to decadal variability in the diapycnal mixing coefficient, sea surface temperature and other properties of the circulation system oscillate periodically. The strongest sea surface temperature anomaly appears in the geographic location of Niño-3 region with the amplitude on the order of 0.5°C, if the model is subject to a 30-yr sinusoidal oscillation in diapycnal mixing coefficient that varies between 0.03 × 10−4 and 0.27 × 10−4 m2 s−1. Changes in diapycnal mixing coefficient of this amplitude are within the bulk range consistent with the external mechanical energy input in the global ocean, especially when considering the great changes of tropical cyclones during the past decades. Thus, time-varying diapycnal mixing associated with changes in wind energy input into the ocean may play a nonnegligible role in decadal climate variability in the equatorial circulation and climate.

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