The Republic of Korea-Pacific Islands Climate Prediction Services Project

2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-257
Author(s):  
Soo-Jin Sohn ◽  
WonMoo Kim ◽  
Jin Ho Yoo ◽  
Yun-Young Lee ◽  
Sang Myeong Oh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Seasonal Prediction ◽  
Climate Prediction ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Republic Of Korea ◽  
Prediction System ◽  
Physical Relationship ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract Seasonal prediction provides critical information for the tropical Pacific region, where the economy and livelihood is highly dependent on climate variability. While the highest skills of dynamical prediction systems are usually found in the tropical Pacific, National Hydrological and Meteorological Services (NHMS) in the Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) do not take full advantage of such scientific achievements. The Republic of Korea-Pacific Islands Climate Prediction Services (ROK-PI CliPS) project aims to help PICs produce regionally tailored climate prediction information using a dynamical seasonal prediction system. The project is being jointly implemented by the APEC Climate Center (APCC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), in close collaboration with NHMSs in PICs. The regionally tailored, dynamical-statistical hybrid climate prediction system uses predictors that were identified through communications with NHMSs. The predictors were selected based on the empirical physical relationship of the local climate fluctuations, indicated by multi-institutional and multimodel ensembles. This hybrid system makes full use of dynamical seasonal predictions, which have not been commonly utilized in current operation in PICs. In accordance with system development, additional efforts have been made for PIC NHMSs to build capacity by increasing their knowledge and skill needed to develop such methodologies and systems. Nonetheless, the successive and strategic efforts to sustain and further improve climate predictions in the Pacific Islands region are required.

Growing Coconut Palms in the Pacific Islands: Colliding Knowledge and Values

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Coconut Oil ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
The West ◽  
Passive Resistance ◽  
The People ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Coconuts provided commodities for the West in the form of coconut oil and copra. Once colonial governments established control of the tropical Pacific Islands, they needed revenue so urged European settlers to establish coconut plantations. For some decades most copra came from Indigenous growers. Administrations constantly urged the people to thin old groves and plant new ones like plantations, in grid patterns, regularly spaced and weeded. Local growers were instructed to collect all fallen coconuts for copra from their groves. For half a century, the administrations’ requirements met with Indigenous passive resistance. This paper examines the underlying reasons for this, elucidating Indigenous ecological and social values, based on experiential knowledge, knowledge that clashed with Western scientific values.

Rattus exulans (Pacific rat).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Shiels
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Pacific Basin ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Ground Nesting ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract The Pacific rat, R. exulans, is an major agricultural and environmental pest in parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Thought to have spread with Polynesian colonists over the past several thousand years, it is now found through much of the Pacific basin, and is extensively distributed in the tropical Pacific. It poses a significant threat to indigenous wildlife, particularly ground-nesting birds, and has been linked to the extinction of several bird species. R. exulans may also transmit diseases to humans.

Reconstructing an Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation Index from a Pacific Basin–Wide Collection of Ice Core Records

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 3839-3852
Author(s):  
Stacy E. Porter ◽  
Ellen Mosley-Thompson ◽  
Lonnie G. Thompson ◽  
Aaron B. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Pacific Basin ◽  
Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Instrumental Period ◽  
The Tropical Pacific ◽  
Ice Core Records

AbstractUsing an assemblage of four ice cores collected around the Pacific basin, one of the first basinwide histories of Pacific climate variability has been created. This ice core–derived index of the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO) incorporates ice core records from South America, the Himalayas, the Antarctic Peninsula, and northwestern North America. The reconstructed IPO is annually resolved and dates to 1450 CE. The IPO index compares well with observations during the instrumental period and with paleo-proxy assimilated datasets throughout the entire record, which indicates a robust and temporally stationary IPO signal for the last ~550 years. Paleoclimate reconstructions from the tropical Pacific region vary greatly during the Little Ice Age (LIA), although the reconstructed IPO index in this study suggests that the LIA was primarily defined by a weak, negative IPO phase and hence more La Niña–like conditions. Although the mean state of the tropical Pacific Ocean during the LIA remains uncertain, the reconstructed IPO reveals some interesting dynamical relationships with the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). In the current warm period, a positive (negative) IPO coincides with an expansion (contraction) of the seasonal latitudinal range of the ITCZ. This relationship is not stationary, however, and is virtually absent throughout the LIA, suggesting that external forcing, such as that from volcanoes and/or reduced solar irradiance, could be driving either the ITCZ shifts or the climate dominating the ice core sites used in the IPO reconstruction.

scholarly journals Options and Choices in Relation to Adopting Healthy Lifestyles in the Pacific Islands Region

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-82
Author(s):  
Roy Smith
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Health Transition ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Significant Burden ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Lifestyle Related Diseases ◽  
Made In

The low-lying atoll states of the Pacific region, including Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, face numerous challenges as a result of climate change and the related rise in sea level. A health transition from communicable to noncommunicable lifestyle-related diseases among these communities is placing a significant burden on medical services and broader welfare provision. This article considers the broad range of both internal and external factors that influence the options available and choices made in relation to being able to maintain a healthy lifestyle in these communities.

scholarly journals Decadal Sea Level Variability in the Pacific Ocean: Origins and Climate Mode Contributions

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingsheng Meng ◽  
Wei Zhuang ◽  
Weiwei Zhang ◽  
Angela Ditri ◽  
Xiao-Hai Yan
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Central Basin ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Sea Level Variations ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractSea level changes within wide temporal–spatial scales have great influence on oceanic and atmospheric circulations. Efforts have been made to identify long-term sea level trend and regional sea level variations on different time scales. A nonuniform sea level rise in the tropical Pacific and the strengthening of the easterly trade winds from 1993 to 2012 have been widely reported. It is well documented that sea level in the tropical Pacific is associated with the typical climate modes. However, sea level change on interannual and decadal time scales still requires more research. In this study, the Pacific sea level anomaly (SLA) was decomposed into interannual and decadal time scales via an ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method. The temporal–spatial features of the SLA variability in the Pacific were examined and were closely associated with climate variability modes. Moreover, decadal SLA oscillations in the Pacific Ocean were identified during 1993–2016, with the phase reversals around 2000, 2004, and 2012. In the tropical Pacific, large sea level variations in the western and central basin were a result of changes in the equatorial wind stress. Moreover, coherent decadal changes could also be seen in wind stress, sea surface temperature (SST), subtropical cells (STCs), and thermocline depth. Our work provided a new way to illustrate the interannual and decadal sea level variations in the Pacific Ocean and suggested a coupled atmosphere–ocean variability on a decadal time scale in the tropical region with two cycles from 1993 to 2016.

scholarly journals Strengthening of the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent in the SODA Reanalysis: Mechanisms, Ocean Dynamics, and Implications

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 2405-2416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Drenkard ◽  
Kristopher B. Karnauskas
Keyword(s):  
Heat Budget ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Trade Winds ◽  
Equatorial Undercurrent ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract Several recent studies utilizing global climate models predict that the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) will strengthen over the twenty-first century. Here, historical changes in the tropical Pacific are investigated using the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) reanalysis toward understanding the dynamics and mechanisms that may dictate such a change. Although SODA does not assimilate velocity observations, the seasonal-to-interannual variability of the EUC estimated by SODA corresponds well with moored observations over a ~20-yr common period. Long-term trends in SODA indicate that the EUC core velocity has increased by 16% century−1 and as much as 47% century−1 at fixed locations since the mid-1800s. Diagnosis of the zonal momentum budget in the equatorial Pacific reveals two distinct seasonal mechanisms that explain the EUC strengthening. The first is characterized by strengthening of the western Pacific trade winds and hence oceanic zonal pressure gradient during boreal spring. The second entails weakening of eastern Pacific trade winds during boreal summer, which weakens the surface current and reduces EUC deceleration through vertical friction. EUC strengthening has important ecological implications as upwelling affects the thermal and biogeochemical environment. Furthermore, given the potential large-scale influence of EUC strength and depth on the heat budget in the eastern Pacific, the seasonal strengthening of the EUC may help reconcile paradoxical observations of Walker circulation slowdown and zonal SST gradient strengthening. Such a process would represent a new dynamical “thermostat” on CO2-forced warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, emphasizing the importance of ocean dynamics and seasonality in understanding climate change projections.

scholarly journals Influence of stratospheric airmasses on tropospheric vertical O<sub>3</sub> columns based on GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) measurements and backtrajectory calculation over the Pacific

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 903-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ladstätter-Weißenmayer ◽  
J. Meyer-Arnek ◽  
A. Schlemm ◽  
J. P. Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Anthropogenic Pollution ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Experiment Data ◽  
Significant Seasonal Variation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Measuring Experiment ◽  
The Western Pacific ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract. Satellite based GOME (Global Ozone Measuring experiment) data are used to characterize the amount of tropospheric ozone over the tropical Pacific. Tropospheric ozone was determined from GOME data using the Tropospheric Excess Method (TEM). In the tropical Pacific a significant seasonal variation is detected. Tropospheric excess ozone is enhanced during the biomass burning season from September to November due to outflow from the continents. In September 1999 GOME data reveal an episode of increased excess ozone columns over Tahiti (18.0° S; 149.0° W) (Eastern Pacific) compared to Am. Samoa (14.23° S; 170.56° W) and Fiji (18.13° S; 178.40° E), both situated in the Western Pacific. Backtrajectory calculations show that none of the airmasses arriving over the three locations experienced anthropogenic pollution (e. g. biomass burning). Consequently other sources of ozone have to be considered. One possible process leading to an increase of tropospheric ozone is stratosphere-troposphere-exchange. An analysis of the potential vorticity along trajectories arriving above each of the locations reveals that airmasses at Tahiti are subject to enhanced stratospheric influence, compared to Am. Samoa and Fiji. As a result this study shows clear incidents of transport of airmasses from the stratosphere into the troposphere.

scholarly journals The INGV–CMCC Seasonal Prediction System: Improved Ocean Initial Conditions

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
pp. 2930-2952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Alessandri ◽  
Andrea Borrelli ◽  
Simona Masina ◽  
Annalisa Cherchi ◽  
Silvio Gualdi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Seasonal Prediction ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Optimal Interpolation ◽  
Boreal Winter ◽  
Prediction System ◽  
Ensemble Forecasts ◽  
Climate Anomalies ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The development of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)–Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) Seasonal Prediction System (SPS) is documented. In this SPS the ocean initial-conditions estimation includes a reduced-order optimal interpolation procedure for the assimilation of temperature and salinity profiles at the global scale. Nine-member ensemble forecasts have been produced for the period 1991–2003 for two starting dates per year in order to assess the impact of the subsurface assimilation in the ocean for initialization. Comparing the results with control simulations (i.e., without assimilation of subsurface profiles during ocean initialization), it is shown that the improved ocean initialization increases the skill in the prediction of tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures of the system for boreal winter forecasts. Considering the forecast of the 1997/98 El Niño, the data assimilation in the ocean initial conditions leads to a considerable improvement in the representation of its onset and development. The results presented in this paper indicate a better prediction of global-scale surface climate anomalies for the forecasts started in November, probably because of the improvement in the tropical Pacific. For boreal winter, significant increases in the capability of the system to discriminate above-normal and below-normal temperature anomalies are shown in both the tropics and extratropics.

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