Advanced Search
Impact Factor: 5.8

Volume 30 Issue 1

Jan.  2013

Article Contents
Article >  ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES  > 2013 >  30(1): 1-9

Model Evidence for Interdecadal Pathway Changes in the Subtropics and Tropics of the South Pacific Ocean

  • 1.

    Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA,College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875;National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, State Oceanic Administration, Beijing 100081


doi: 10.1007/s00376-012-2048-1

  • Numerical simulations using a version of the GFDL/NOAA Modular Ocean Model (MOM 3) are analyzed to demonstrate interdecadal pathway changes from the subtropics to the tropics in the South Pacific Ocean. After the 1976–77 climate shift, the subtropical gyre of the South Pacific underwent significant changes, characterized by a slowing down in its circulation and a southward displacement of its center by about 5o–10o latitude on the western side. The associated circulation altered its flow path in the northwestern part of the subtropical gyre, changing from a direct pathway connecting the subtropics to the tropics before the shift to a more zonal one after. This effectively prevented some subtropical waters from directly entering into the western equatorial Pacific. Since waters transported onto the equator around the subtropical gyre are saline and warm, such changes in the direct pathway and the associated reduction in equatorward exchange from the subtropics to the tropics affected water mass properties downstream in the western equatorial Pacific, causing persisted freshening and cooling of subsurface water as observed after the late 1970s. Previously, changes in gyre strength and advection of temperature anomalies have been invoked as mechanisms for linking the subtropics and tropics on interdecadal time scales. Here we present an additional hypothesis in which geographic shifts in the gyre structure and location (a pathway change) could play a similar role.
  • [1] ZHANG Rong-Hua, PEI Yuhua, CHEN Dake, 2013: Remote Effects of Tropical Cyclone Wind Forcing over the Western Pacific on the Eastern Equatorial Ocean, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 30, 1507-1525.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-013-2283-0
    [2] Eric P. CHASSIGNET, Xiaobiao XU, 2021: On the Importance of High-Resolution in Large-Scale Ocean Models, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 38, 1621-1634.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-021-0385-7
    [3] YUAN Weihua, YU Rucong, LI Jian, 2013: Changes in the Diurnal Cycles of Precipitation over Eastern China in the Past 40 Years, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 30, 461-467.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-012-2092-x
    [4] Xing ZHANG, Mu MU, Qiang WANG, Stefano PIERINI, 2017: Optimal Precursors Triggering the Kuroshio Extension State Transition Obtained by the Conditional Nonlinear Optimal Perturbation Approach, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 34, 685-699.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-017-6263-7
    [5] YANG Haijun, ZHANG Qiong, 2003: On the Decadal and Interdecadal Variability in the Pacific Ocean, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 20, 173-184.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-003-0002-y
    [6] He Youhai, Guan Cuihua, Gan Zijun, 1997: Interannual and Interdecadal Variations in Heat Content of the Upper Ocean of the South China Sea, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 14, 271-276.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-997-0025-x
    [7] LI Gang*, LI Chongyin, TAN Yanke, and BAI Tao, 2014: The Interdecadal Changes of South Pacific Sea Surface Temperature in the Mid-1990s and Their Connections with ENSO, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 31, 66-84.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-013-2280-3
    [8] FU Weiwei, ZHOU Guangqing, WANG Huijun, 2006: Modeling the Tropical Pacific Ocean Using a Regional Coupled Climate Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 23, 625-638.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-006-0625-x
    [9] LI Yangchun, XU Yongfu, 2012: Uptake and Storage of Anthropogenic CO2 in the Pacific Ocean Estimated Using Two Modeling Approaches, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 29, 795-809.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-012-1170-4
    [10] Wansuo DUAN, Xixi WEN, 2019: Errors in Current Velocity in the Low-latitude North Pacific: Results from the Regional Ocean Modeling System, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 36, 397-416.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-018-8140-4
    [11] Shuang LUO, Yunfei FU, Shengnan ZHOU, Xiaofeng WANG, Dongyong WANG, 2020: Analysis of the Relationship between the Cloud Water Path and Precipitation Intensity of Mature Typhoons in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 37, 359-376.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-020-9204-9
    [12] WU Chunqiang, ZHOU Tianjun, SUN De-Zheng, BAO Qing, 2011: Water Vapor and Cloud Radiative Forcings over the Pacific Ocean Simulated by the LASG/IAP AGCM: Sensitivity to Convection Schemes, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 28, 80-98.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-010-9205-1
    [13] WEN Yuanqiao, HUANG Liwen, DENG Jian, ZHANG Jinfeng, WANG Sisi, WANG Lijun, 2006: Framework of Distributed Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean-Wave Modeling System, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 23, 442-448.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-006-0442-2
    [14] Zi-Liang LI, Ping WEN, 2017: Comparison between the Response of the Northwest Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea to Typhoon Megi (2010), ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 34, 79-87.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-016-6027-9
    [15] Chengyan LIU, Zhaomin WANG, Bingrui LI, Chen CHENG, Ruibin XIA, 2017: On the Response of Subduction in the South Pacific to an Intensification of Westerlies and Heat Flux in an Eddy Permitting Ocean Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 34, 521-531.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-016-6021-2
    [16] LI Chongyin, ZHOU Wen, JIA Xiaolong, WANG Xin, 2006: Decadal/Interdecadal Variations of the Ocean Temperature and its Impacts on Climate, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 23, 964-981.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-006-0964-7
    [17] YAN Changxiang, ZHU Jiang, XIE Jiping, 2015: An Ocean Data Assimilation System in the Indian Ocean and West Pacific Ocean, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 32, 1460-1472.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-015-4121-z
    [18] Huiyan XU, Xiaofan LI, Jinfang YIN, Dengrong ZHANG, 2023: Predecessor Rain Events in the Yangtze River Delta Region Associated with South China Sea and Northwest Pacific Ocean (SCS-WNPO) Tropical Cyclones, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 40, 1021-1042.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-022-2069-3
    [19] ZHONG Linhao, FENG Shide, GAO Shouting, 2005: Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation in Shallow Water Lattice Boltzmann Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 22, 349-358.  doi: 10.1007/BF02918749
    [20] HUANG Jianping, 2006: Analysis of Ice Water Path Retrieval Errors Over Tropical Ocean, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 23, 165-180.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-006-0165-4
PDF

Get Citation+

shu
Export:  

Share Article

Article Metrics

Article Views: 761 Times

PDF downloads: 570 Times

Cited by: Times
  • 加载中

    • Manuscript History

    Manuscript received: 10 January 2013
    Manuscript revised: 10 January 2013
    通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
    • 1. 

      沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

    1. 本站搜索
    2. 百度学术搜索
    3. 万方数据库搜索
    4. CNKI搜索

    Model Evidence for Interdecadal Pathway Changes in the Subtropics and Tropics of the South Pacific Ocean

    • 1. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA,College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875;National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, State Oceanic Administration, Beijing 100081
    • Manuscript received: 2013-01-10
    • Manuscript revised: 2013-01-10

    Abstract: Numerical simulations using a version of the GFDL/NOAA Modular Ocean Model (MOM 3) are analyzed to demonstrate interdecadal pathway changes from the subtropics to the tropics in the South Pacific Ocean. After the 1976–77 climate shift, the subtropical gyre of the South Pacific underwent significant changes, characterized by a slowing down in its circulation and a southward displacement of its center by about 5o–10o latitude on the western side. The associated circulation altered its flow path in the northwestern part of the subtropical gyre, changing from a direct pathway connecting the subtropics to the tropics before the shift to a more zonal one after. This effectively prevented some subtropical waters from directly entering into the western equatorial Pacific. Since waters transported onto the equator around the subtropical gyre are saline and warm, such changes in the direct pathway and the associated reduction in equatorward exchange from the subtropics to the tropics affected water mass properties downstream in the western equatorial Pacific, causing persisted freshening and cooling of subsurface water as observed after the late 1970s. Previously, changes in gyre strength and advection of temperature anomalies have been invoked as mechanisms for linking the subtropics and tropics on interdecadal time scales. Here we present an additional hypothesis in which geographic shifts in the gyre structure and location (a pathway change) could play a similar role.

      HTML

    Catalog

      Publish with AAS

      Contact us

      Links

      Copyright © 2018-2028 ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES 京ICP备14024088号-7

      Supported by: Beijing Renhe Information Technology Co. Ltd  support: info@rhhz.net  

      /

      DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
      Return
      Return