Mechanisms governing interannual variability of upper-ocean temperature in a global ocean hindcast simulation

View/ Open
Date
2007-07Author
Doney, Scott C.
Concept link
Yeager, Stephen G.
Concept link
Danabasoglu, Gokhan
Concept link
Large, William G.
Concept link
McWilliams, James C.
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4151As published
https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo3089.1DOI
10.1175/jpo3089.1Abstract
The interannual variability in upper-ocean (0–400 m) temperature and governing mechanisms for the period 1968–97 are quantified from a global ocean hindcast simulation driven by atmospheric reanalysis and satellite data products. The unconstrained simulation exhibits considerable skill in replicating the observed interannual variability in vertically integrated heat content estimated from hydrographic data and monthly satellite sea surface temperature and sea surface height data. Globally, the most significant interannual variability modes arise from El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean zonal mode, with substantial extension beyond the Tropics into the midlatitudes. In the well-stratified Tropics and subtropics, net annual heat storage variability is driven predominately by the convergence of the advective heat transport, mostly reflecting velocity anomalies times the mean temperature field. Vertical velocity variability is caused by remote wind forcing, and subsurface temperature anomalies are governed mostly by isopycnal displacements (heave). The dynamics at mid- to high latitudes are qualitatively different and vary regionally. Interannual temperature variability is more coherent with depth because of deep winter mixing and variations in western boundary currents and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that span the upper thermocline. Net annual heat storage variability is forced by a mixture of local air–sea heat fluxes and the convergence of the advective heat transport, the latter resulting from both velocity and temperature anomalies. Also, density-compensated temperature changes on isopycnal surfaces (spice) are quantitatively significant.
Description
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 (2007): 1918-1938, doi:10.1175/jpo3089.1.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 (2007): 1918-1938Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Interannual variability of winter-spring temperature in the Middle Atlantic Bight : relative contributions of atmospheric and oceanic processes
Chen, Ke; Kwon, Young-Oh; Gawarkiewicz, Glen G. (John Wiley & Sons, 2016-06-18)Relative contributions between the local atmospheric and oceanic processes on the interannual variability of winter-spring shelf temperature in the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) are investigated based on a regional ocean ... -
Numerical investigations of seasonal and interannual variability of North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water and its implications for Pacific climate variability
Davis, Xujing Jia; Rothstein, Lewis M.; Dewar, William K.; Menemenlis, Dimitris (American Meteorological Society, 2011-06-01)North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (NPSTMW) is an essential feature of the North Pacific subtropical gyre imparting significant influence on regional SST evolution on seasonal and longer time scales and, as such, is an ... -
Interannual variability of wintertime temperature on the inner continental shelf of the Middle Atlantic Bight
Connolly, Thomas P.; Lentz, Steven J. (John Wiley & Sons, 2014-09-17)The shallow depth of the inner continental shelf allows for rapid adjustment of the ocean to air-sea exchange of heat and momentum compared with offshore locations. Observations during 2001–2013 are used to evaluate the ...