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Upper‐ocean thermal variability controlled by ocean dynamics in the K uroshio‐ O yashio E xtension region
Author(s) -
Pak Gyundo,
Park YoungHyang,
Vivier Frédéric,
BourdalléBadie Romain,
Garric Gilles,
Chang KyungIl
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1002/2016jc012076
Subject(s) - ocean heat content , advection , climatology , teleconnection , pacific decadal oscillation , oceanography , ocean general circulation model , heat flux , ocean current , ocean dynamics , sea surface temperature , thermohaline circulation , zonal and meridional , environmental science , geology , heat transfer , general circulation model , climate change , el niño southern oscillation , physics , thermodynamics
To understand the upper‐ocean thermal variability in the Kuroshio−Oyashio Extension (KOE) region, the upper 400 m heat budget in the western North Pacific is analyzed for the 1981 − 2013 period using outputs from a high resolution (1/12°) ocean general circulation model. Winter heat storage rate on interannual to decadal time scales is mainly determined by oceanic heat advection rather than by net air‐sea heat flux. The role of heat advection becomes particularly prominent and widely spread over the entire western North Pacific after the 1990 regime shift in association with the reduced variability of surface heat flux caused by weakened SST variability. The net heat flux acts to dampen temperature anomalies caused by the ocean dynamics. The ocean dynamics causing the upper‐ocean heat storage rate is principally associated with the meridional shift of the Oyashio Extension front, which is significantly correlated with both the West Pacific and Pacific‐North America teleconnection patterns.