scholarly journals Decadal to Multidecadal Variability of the Mixed Layer to the South of the Kuroshio Extension Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (17) ◽  
pp. 7697-7714
Author(s):  
Baolan Wu ◽  
Xiaopei Lin ◽  
Lisan Yu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Multidecadal Variability ◽  
Mixed Layer Temperature ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
The Western Pacific

AbstractThe decadal to multidecadal mixed layer variability is investigated in a region south of the Kuroshio Extension (130°E–180°, 25°–35°N), an area where the North Pacific subtropical mode water forms, during 1948–2012. By analyzing the mixed layer heat budget with different observational and reanalysis data, here we show that the decadal to multidecadal variability of the mixed layer temperature and mixed layer depth is covaried with the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), instead of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). The mixed layer temperature has strong decadal to multidecadal variability, being warm before 1970 and after 1990 (AMO positive phase) and cold during 1970–90 (AMO negative phase), and so does the mixed layer depth. The dominant process for the mixed layer temperature decadal to multidecadal variability is the Ekman advection, which is controlled by the zonal wind changes related to the AMO. The net heat flux into the ocean surface Qnet acts as a damping term and it is mainly from the effect of latent heat flux and partially from sensible heat flux. While the wind as well as mixed layer temperature decadal changes related to the PDO are weak in the western Pacific Ocean. Our finding proposes the possible influence of the AMO on the northwestern Pacific Ocean mixed layer variability, and could be a potential predictor for the decadal to multidecadal climate variability in the western Pacific Ocean.

Decadal Variation in Winter Mixed Layer Depth South of the Kuroshio Extension and Its Influence on Winter Mixed Layer Temperature

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1237-1252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shusaku Sugimoto ◽  
Shin’ichiro Kako
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Layer ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Positive Anomaly ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Mixed Layer Temperature ◽  
Winter Mixed Layer ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract The long-term behavior of the wintertime mixed layer depth (MLD) and mixed layer temperature (MLT) are investigated in a region south of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) (30°–37°N, 141°–155°E), an area of the North Pacific subtropical gyre where the deepest MLD occurs, using historical temperature profiles of 1968–2014. Both the MLD and MLT in March have low-frequency variations, which show significant decadal (~10 yr) variations after the late 1980s. Observational data and simulation outputs from a one-dimensional turbulent closure model reveal that surface cooling is the main control on winter MLD in the late 1970s and 1980s, whereas there is a change in the strength of subsurface stratification is the main control after ~1990. In the latter period, a weak (strong) subsurface stratification is caused by a straight path (convoluted path) of the KE and by a deepening (shallowing) of the main thermocline depth due to oceanic Rossby waves formed as a result of positive (negative) anomalies of wind stress curl associated with a southward (northward) movement of the Aleutian low in the central North Pacific. During deeper (shallower) periods of winter MLD, the strong (weak) vertical entrainment process, resulting from a rapid (slow) deepening of the mixed layer (ML) in January and February, forms a negative (positive) anomaly of temperature tendency. Consequently, the decadal variations in wintertime MLT are formed.

Winter Extreme Mixed Layer Depth South of the Kuroshio Extension

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (24) ◽  
pp. 10419-10436
Author(s):  
Jingjie Yu ◽  
Bolan Gan ◽  
Zhao Jing ◽  
Lixin Wu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Surface Warming ◽  
Mechanical Stirring ◽  
The Kuroshio

AbstractChange in the extratropical wintertime-mean mixed layer has been widely studied, given its importance to both physical and biogeochemical processes. With a focus on the south of the Kuroshio Extension region where the mixed layer is deepest in March, this study shows that variation of the synoptic-scale extreme mixed layer depth (MLD) is a better precursor than the monthly mean (or nonextreme) MLD for change in the subtropical mode water formation in spring, based on the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (1979–2010). It is found that the extreme MLD events are attributable to the accumulation of excessive surface cooling driven by the synoptic storms that characterize cold-air outbreaks. Particularly, the difference between the extreme and nonextreme MLD is primarily related to differences in the cumulative synoptic heat flux anomalies, while a change in the preconditioning upper-ocean stratification contributes almost equally to both cases. Relative contributions of oceanic and atmospheric forcing to the interannual variation of the extreme MLD are quantified using a bulk mixed layer model. Results show comparable contributions: the preconditioning stratification change accounts for ~44% of total variance of the extreme MLD, whereas the convective mixing by surface heat flux and the mechanical stirring by wind stress account for ~35% and ~13%, respectively. In addition, both the reanalysis and observational data reveal that the extreme and nonextreme MLD has been shallowed significantly during 1979–2010, which is accounted for by the strengthened stratification due to the enhanced ocean surface warming by the Kuroshio heat transport.

In Situ Observations of Madden–Julian Oscillation Mixed Layer Dynamics in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 2306-2328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyla Drushka ◽  
Janet Sprintall ◽  
Sarah T. Gille ◽  
Susan Wijffels
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Heat Budget ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Temperature Variations ◽  
Central Indian Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer Temperature

Abstract The boreal winter response of the ocean mixed layer to the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) in the Indo-Pacific region is determined using in situ observations from the Argo profiling float dataset. Composite averages over numerous events reveal that the MJO forces systematic variations in mixed layer depth and temperature throughout the domain. Strong MJO mixed layer depth anomalies (>15 m peak to peak) are observed in the central Indian Ocean and in the far western Pacific Ocean. The strongest mixed layer temperature variations (>0.6°C peak to peak) are found in the central Indian Ocean and in the region between northwest Australia and Java. A heat budget analysis is used to evaluate which processes are responsible for mixed layer temperature variations at MJO time scales. Though uncertainties in the heat budget are on the same order as the temperature trend, the analysis nonetheless demonstrates that mixed layer temperature variations associated with the canonical MJO are driven largely by anomalous net surface heat flux. Net heat flux is dominated by anomalies in shortwave and latent heat fluxes, the relative importance of which varies between active and suppressed MJO conditions. Additionally, rapid deepening of the mixed layer in the central Indian Ocean during the onset of active MJO conditions induces significant basin-wide entrainment cooling. In the central equatorial Indian Ocean, MJO-induced variations in mixed layer depth can modulate net surface heat flux, and therefore mixed layer temperature variations, by up to ~40%. This highlights the importance of correctly representing intraseasonal mixed layer depth variations in climate models in order to accurately simulate mixed layer temperature, and thus air–sea interaction, associated with the MJO.

scholarly journals Dryline Bulge Evolution in a Two-Dimensional Mixed-Layer Model

2004 ◽  
Vol 61 (21) ◽  
pp. 2528-2543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn M. Auslander ◽  
Peter R. Bannon
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Heat Flux ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Surface Heat ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Layer Model ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Inversion Strength ◽  
Mixed Layer Model

Abstract This study examines the diurnal response of a mixed-layer model of the dryline system to localized anomalies of surface heat flux, topography, mixed-layer depth, and inversion strength. The two-dimensional, mixed-layer model is used to simulate the dynamics of a cool, moist layer east of the dryline capped by an inversion under synoptically quiescent conditions. The modeled domain simulates the sloping topography of the U.S. Great Plains. The importance of this study can be related to dryline bulges that are areas with enhanced convergence that may trigger convection in suitable environmental conditions. All anomalies are represented by a Gaussian function in the horizontal whose amplitude, size, and orientation can be altered. A positive, surface-heat-flux anomaly produces increased mixing that creates a bulge toward the east, while a negative anomaly produces a westward bulge. Anomalies in topography show a similar trend in bulge direction with a peak giving an eastward bulge, and a valley giving a westward bulge. Anomalies in the initial mixed-layer depth yield an eastward bulge in the presence of a minimum and a westward bulge for a maximum. An anomaly in the initial inversion strength results in a westward bulge when the inversion is stronger, and an eastward bulge when the inversion is weak. The bulges observed in this study at 1800 LT ranged from 400 to 600 km along the dryline and from 25 to 80 km across the dryline. When the heating ceases at night, the entrainment and eastward movement of the line stops, and the line surges westward. This westward surge at night has little dependence on the type of anomaly applied. Whether a westward or eastward bulge was present at 1800 LT, the surge travels an equal distance toward the west. However, the inclusion of weak nocturnal friction reduces the westward surge by 100 to 200 km due to mechanical mixing of the very shallow leading edge of the surge. All model runs exhibit peaks in the mixed-layer depth along the dryline at 1800 LT caused by enhanced boundary layer convergence and entrainment of elevated mixed-layer air into the mixed layer. These peaks appear along the section of the dryline that is least parallel to the southerly flow. They vary in amplitude from 4 to 9 km depending on the amplitude of the anomaly. However, the surface-heat-flux anomalies generally result in peaks at the higher end of this interval. It is hypothesized that the formation of these peaks may be the trigger for deep convection along the dryline in the late afternoon.

Frontolysis by surface heat flux in the eastern Japan Sea: importance of mixed layer depth

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Ohishi ◽  
Hidenori Aiki ◽  
Tomoki Tozuka ◽  
Meghan F. Cronin
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Heat Flux ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Japan Sea ◽  
Surface Heat ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Eastern Japan

scholarly journals A Diagnostic Model for Mixed Layer Depth Estimation with Application to Ocean Station P in the Northeast Pacific

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1399-1415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Thomson ◽  
Isaac V. Fine
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Depth Estimation ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Diagnostic Model ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Northeast Pacific

Abstract This paper presents a simple diagnostic model for estimating mixed layer depth based solely on the one-dimensional heat balance equation, the surface heat flux, and the sea surface temperature. The surface fluxes drive heating or cooling of the upper layer whereas the surface temperature acts as a “thermostat” that regulates the vertical extent of the layer. Daily mixed layer depth estimates from the diagnostic model (and two standard bulk mixed layer models) are compared with depths obtained from oceanic profiles collected during the 1956–80 Canadian Weathership program at Station P and more recent (2001–07) profiles from the vicinity of this station from Argo drifters. Summer mixed layer depths from the diagnostic model agree more closely with observed depths and are less sensitive to heat flux errors than those from bulk models. For the Weathership monitoring period, the root-mean-square difference between modeled and observed monthly mean mixed layer depths is ∼6 m for the diagnostic model and ∼10 m for the bulk models. The diagnostic model is simpler to apply than bulk models and sidesteps the need for wind data and turbulence parameterization required by these models. Mixed layer depths obtained from the diagnostic model using NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data reveal that—contrary to reports for late winter—there has been no significant trend in the summer mixed layer depth in the central northeast Pacific over the past 52 yr.

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