Recent surface cooling in the Yellow and East China Seas and the associated North Pacific climate regime shift

Since the climate regime shift of 1976-1977 in the North Pacific, the individual growth of Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) has decreased dramatically in Alaska but not in British Columbia. Recruitment has increased dramatically in both areas. The decrease in age-specific vulnerability to commercial longline gear resulted in a persistent underestimation of incoming recruitment by the age-structured assessment method (CAGEAN) that was used to assess the stock. This problem has been corrected by adding temporal trends in growth and fishery selectivity to the assessment model. The recent sustained high level of recruitment at high levels of spawning biomass has erased the previous appearance of strong density dependence in the stock-recruitment relationship and prompted a reduction in the target full-recruitment harvest rate from 30-35 to 20-25%. The climate regime shift affected a number of other stocks of vertebrates and invertebrates in the North Pacific. While the general oceanographic changes have now been identified, the specific biological mechanisms responsible for the observed changes have not.

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Impact of El Niño events and climate regime shift on living resources in the western North Pacific

Progress In Oceanography ◽

10.1016/s0079-6611(01)00018-0 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 49 (1-4) ◽

pp. 113-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

Takashige Sugimoto ◽

Shingo Kimura ◽

Kazuaki Tadokoro

Keyword(s):

El Niño ◽

North Pacific ◽

Western North Pacific ◽

Regime Shift ◽

El Nino ◽

Climate Regime ◽

Climate Regime Shift ◽

El Niño Events ◽

El Nino Events

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The 1976/77 North Pacific Climate Regime Shift: The Role of Subtropical Ocean Adjustment and Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Feedbacks*

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli3583.1 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 18 (23) ◽

pp. 5125-5140 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Lixin Wu ◽

Dong Eun Lee ◽

Zhengyu Liu

Keyword(s):

Ocean Circulation ◽

North Pacific ◽

Regime Shift ◽

Climate Regime ◽

Climate Regime Shift ◽

Modeling Approach ◽

The North ◽

Ocean Atmosphere ◽

Decadal Climate ◽

The North Pacific

Abstract In this study, a new modeling approach is used to look for potential causes of the North Pacific decadal climate regime shift. This new modeling approach is specifically designed to assess not only how changes of the wind-driven ocean circulation induce SST variability, but also the subsequent feedback to climate. Observations appear to indicate that the 1970s North Pacific climate regime shift may be attributed to the coupled ocean–atmosphere interaction over the North Pacific in response to persistent wind stress anomalies in the previous decade. This tends to be supported by modeling results, which suggest that the delayed adjustment of the subtropical ocean circulation may generate sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the western subtropical Pacific that may potentially induce a shift of atmospheric circulation, leading to a change of SST in the central and midlatitude North Pacific. This study appears to unify the recent contradictory views of the roles of ocean circulation in the North Pacific decadal climate variability.

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Changes in Characteristics of Rapidly Intensifying Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones Related to Climate Regime Shifts

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-18-0029.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (19) ◽

pp. 8163-8179 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Haikun Zhao ◽

Xingyi Duan ◽

G. B. Raga ◽

Philip J. Klotzbach

Keyword(s):

Tropical Cyclones ◽

North Pacific ◽

Wind Shear ◽

Western North Pacific ◽

Regime Shift ◽

Vertical Wind Shear ◽

Vertical Wind ◽

Rapid Intensification ◽

Climate Regime ◽

Climate Regime Shift

A significant increase in the proportion of tropical cyclones undergoing rapid intensification at least once during their lifetime (RITCs) over the western North Pacific (WNP) is observed since 1998 when an abrupt climate regime shift occurred. Changes of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic conditions affecting TC activity are compared between two subperiods: one before and one since 1998. Results suggest that both a significant decrease in the number of TCs and a nearly unchanged number of RITCs since 1998 caused a significant increase in the frequency of RITCs. The decrease in TC numbers is likely driven by considerably increased vertical wind shear and decreased low-level vorticity. In contrast, the unchanged RITC counts and thus increased ratio of RITCs during the recent decades are largely attributed to the dominance of a more conducive ocean environment with increased TC heat potential and warmer sea surface temperature anomalies. These associated decadal changes are closely associated with the recent climate regime shift. During the recent decades with a mega–La Niña–like pattern, stronger easterly trade winds have caused increased vertical wind shear and a weakened monsoon trough, thus hampering TC formation ability over the WNP. In addition, a steeper thermocline slope that hampered the eastward migration of warm water along the equatorial Pacific has generated a more favorable thermodynamic environment supporting TC rapid intensification over the WNP.

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A modelling study of the 1976 climate regime shift in the North Pacific Ocean

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f99-195 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 56 (12) ◽

pp. 2450-2462 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Julia Qiuying Wu ◽

William W Hsieh

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

North Pacific ◽

General Circulation ◽

Regime Shift ◽

North Pacific Ocean ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Climate Regime ◽

Climate Regime Shift ◽

The North ◽

The North Pacific

Around 1976, the North Pacific Ocean underwent a climate regime shift, with significant biological consequences. To model the changes in the ocean, an ocean general circulation model was forced by the wind stress and sea surface temperature monthly climatology of the 1952-1975 period in one numerical experiment and the 1976-1988 period in another. Changes in the ocean model between the two experiments revealed how the ocean might have changed under the 1976 climate regime shift. In winter, the intensified post-1976 Aleutian Low spun up the subarctic gyre and the subtropical gyre, except in the Gulf of Alaska, where the circulation weakened. Upwelling was generally enhanced in the subarctic and downwelling enhanced in the subtropical region, with temperature changes down to 600 m. In the post-1976 period, the meridional heat transports were also enhanced: poleward in the low latitudes, equatorward in the midlatitudes, and poleward in the high latitudes.

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