scholarly journals Interannual Variability of the North Pacific Mixed Layer Associated with the Spring Tibetan Plateau Thermal Forcing

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 3109-3130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruizao Sun ◽  
Anmin Duan ◽  
Lilan Chen ◽  
Yanjie Li ◽  
Zhiang Xie ◽  
...  

Abstract By using multisourced data and two sets of sensitivity runs from the coupled general circulation model CESM1.2.0, we investigated the effects of the spring [March, April, and May (MAM)] surface sensible heating over the Tibetan Plateau (SHTP) on the interannual variability of the North Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) and mixed layer. The results indicated that an above-normal MAM SHTP can generate a Rossby wave downstream and form an anomalous equivalent barotropic anticyclone over the North Pacific, inducing anticyclonic wind stress anomalies. As a result of Ekman transport and Ekman pumping, sea currents converge near 40°N, accompanied by weak downwelling motion. The mixed layer heat budget diagnosis indicates that the net heat fluxes, together with meridional advection anomalies, contributed significantly to changes in the mixed layer temperature (MLT). As a result, the SST anomalies (SSTAs) and MLT anomalies both present a horseshoelike pattern. In addition, the significant warm SSTAs show a maximum in the late spring, but the significant warm MLT anomalies centered under the sea surface (25-m depth) could be sustained until summer, acting like a signal storage for the anomalous spring SHTP. Moreover, the midlatitude ocean–atmosphere interaction provides a positive feedback on the development of the anomalous anticyclone over the North Pacific, since the SSTA pattern could strengthen the oceanic front and induce more active transient eddy activities. The eddy vorticity forcing that is dominant among the total atmospheric forcings tends to produce an equivalent barotropic atmospheric high pressure, which in turn intensifies the initial anomalous anticyclone.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-53
Author(s):  
Hua Li ◽  
Shengping He ◽  
Ke Fan ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Xing Yuan

AbstractThe Meiyu withdrawal date (MWD) is a crucial indicator of flood/drought conditions over East Asia. It is characterized by a strong interannual variability, but its underlying mechanism remains unknown. We investigated the possible effects of the winter sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Pacific Ocean on the MWD on interannual to interdecadal timescales. Both our observations and model results suggest that the winter SST anomalies associated with the MWD are mainly contributed by a combination of the first two leading modes of the winter SST in the North Pacific, which have a horseshoe shape (the NPSST). The statistical results indicate that the intimate linkage between the NPSST and the MWD has intensified since the early 1990s. During the time period 1990–2016, the NPSST-related SST anomalies persisted from winter to the following seasons and affected the SST over the tropical Pacific in July. Subsequently, the SST anomalies throughout the North Pacific strengthened the southward migration of the East Asian jet stream (EAJS) and the southward and westward replacement of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WPSH), leading to an increase in Meiyu rainfall from July 1 to 20. More convincingly, the anomalous EAJS and WPSH induced by the SST anomalies can be reproduced well by numerical simulations. By contrast, the influence of the NPSST on the EASJ and WPSH were not clear between 1961 and 1985. This study further illustrates that the enhanced interannual variability of the NPSST may be attributed to the more persistent SST anomalies during the time period 1990–2016.


2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 2400-2415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shota Katsura ◽  
Eitarou Oka ◽  
Bo Qiu ◽  
Niklas Schneider

Abstract Formation and subduction of the North Pacific Tropical Water (NPTW), its interannual variability, and its associated mechanisms were investigated by using gridded Argo-profiling float data and various surface flux data in 2003–11. The NPTW has two formation sites in the center of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, corresponding to two regional sea surface salinity maxima. Mixed layer salinity variations in these two NPTW formation sites were found to be significantly different. While seasonal variation was prominent in the eastern formation site, interannual variation was dominant in the western site. The mixed layer salinity variation in the eastern site was controlled mainly by evaporation, precipitation, and entrainment of fresher water below the mixed layer and was closely related to the seasonal variation of the mixed layer depth. In the western site, the effect of entrainment is small due to a small vertical difference in salinity across the mixed layer base, and excess evaporation over precipitation that tended to be balanced by eddy diffusion, whose strength varied interannually in association with the Pacific decadal oscillation. After subduction, denser NPTW that formed in the eastern site dissipated quickly, while the lighter one that formed in the western site was advected westward as far as the Philippine Sea, transmitting the interannual variation of salinity away from its formation region.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 630
Author(s):  
Rongxiang Tian ◽  
Yaoming Ma ◽  
Weiqiang Ma ◽  
Xiuyi Zhao ◽  
Duo Zha

The vertical motion of air is closely related to the amount of precipitation that falls in a particular region. The Tibetan Plateau and the North Pacific are important determinants of the East Asian climate. We use climate diagnosis and statistical analysis to study the vertical motion of the air over the North Pacific and Tibetan Plateau and the relationship between the vertical motion of air over them and the climate in East Asia. Here we show that there is a downward movement of air over the Tibetan Plateau during the winter, with a maximum velocity of downward movement at 500 hPa, whereas there is an upward movement of air with a maximum velocity of upward movement at 600 hPa during the summer. Precipitation in East Asia has a significant negative correlation (The correlation coefficient exceeds −0.463 and confidence level is greater than 99%) with the vertical motion of air over the Tibetan Plateau and the North Pacific during both the winter and summer. There is also a negative correlation of precipitation in the region south of the Yangtze River with the vertical motion of air over the Tibetan Plateau in winter, whereas the area of negative correlation to the vertical motion of air over the North Pacific in winter is located to the east of the Tibetan Plateau and the Yangtze–Huaihe river basin. The research results provide a climatic framework for the vertical motion of air over both the Tibetan Plateau and the North Pacific.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Tomita ◽  
Masami Nonaka

Abstract In the North Pacific, the wintertime sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA), which is represented by March (SSTAMar), when the upper-ocean mixed layer depth (hMar) reaches its maximum, is formed by the anomalous surface forcing from fall to winter (S′). As a parameter of volume, hMar has a potential to modify the impact of S′ on SSTAMar. Introducing an upper-ocean heat budget equation, the present study identifies the physical relationship among the spatial distributions of hMar, S′, and SSTAMar. The long-term mean of hMar adjusts the spatial distribution of SSTAMar. Without the adjustment, the impact of S′ on SSTAMar is overestimated where the hMar mean is deep. Since hMar is partially due to seawater temperature, it leads to nonlinearity between the S′ and the SSTAMar. When the SSTAMar is negative (positive), the sensitivity to S′ is impervious (responsive) with the deepening (shoaling) of the hMar compared to the linear sensitivity. The thermal impacts from the ocean to the atmosphere might be underestimated under the assumption of the linear relationship.


2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 3657-3670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Anne Thompson ◽  
Kathryn A. Kelly ◽  
David Darr ◽  
Robert Hallberg

2014 ◽  
Vol 119 (11) ◽  
pp. 7756-7771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayaka Yasunaka ◽  
Yukihiro Nojiri ◽  
Shin-ichiro Nakaoka ◽  
Tsuneo Ono ◽  
Frank A. Whitney ◽  
...  

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 388
Author(s):  
Hao Cheng ◽  
Liang Sun ◽  
Jiagen Li

The extraction of physical information about the subsurface ocean from surface information obtained from satellite measurements is both important and challenging. We introduce a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) method to determine the subsurface temperature of the North Pacific Ocean by selecting the optimum input combination of sea surface parameters obtained from satellite measurements. In addition to sea surface height (SSH), sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface wind (SSW), we also included the sea surface velocity (SSV) as a new component in our study. This allowed us to partially resolve the non-linear subsurface dynamics associated with advection, which improved the estimated results, especially in regions with strong currents. The accuracy of the estimated results was verified with reprocessed observational datasets. Our results show that the BPNN model can accurately estimate the subsurface (upper 1000 m) temperature of the North Pacific Ocean. The corresponding mean square errors were 0.868 and 0.802 using four (SSH, SST, SSS and SSW) and five (SSH, SST, SSS, SSW and SSV) input parameters and the average coefficients of determination were 0.952 and 0.967, respectively. The input of the SSV in addition to the SSH, SST, SSS and SSW therefore has a positive impact on the BPNN model and helps to improve the accuracy of the estimation. This study provides important technical support for retrieving thermal information about the ocean interior from surface satellite remote sensing observations, which will help to expand the scope of satellite measurements of the ocean.


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