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Low‐frequency variability of South Pacific Tropical Water from Argo
Author(s) -
Zhang Linlin,
Qu Tangdong
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl059490
Subject(s) - argo , oceanography , climatology , environmental science , tropical cyclone , geology , pacific ocean
Abstract Based on the Argo floats data, the low‐frequency salinity variability of the South Pacific Tropical Water (SPTW) is investigated in this study. Subsurface salinity along the 24.5 σ θ surface in the South Pacific subtropical gyre exhibits a trend with dipole‐like structure during 2004–2012. The northern flank of the SPTW gets fresher by 0.3 practical salinity unit (psu), while the southern flank gets saltier by 0.2 psu, suggesting a poleward shift of the water mass. Salinity along the SPTW core shows a relatively weak interannual variability with a peak‐to‐peak amplitude of 0.05 psu. Such a subsurface salinity variability seems to be connected with the sea surface salinity variability in the SPTW formation region, and the dipole‐like structure of the salinity trend is further linked to the decadal variability of the evaporation minus precipitation in this region.