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Formation and variation of temperature inversions in the eastern subarctic North Pacific
Author(s) -
Ueno Hiromichi,
Oka Eitarou,
Suga Toshio,
Onishi Hiroji,
Roemmich Dean
Publication year - 2007
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 - 10.1029/2006gl028715
Subject(s) - subarctic climate , variation (astronomy) , geology , climatology , oceanography , environmental science , physics , astrophysics
Hydrographic data from profiling float observations for 2001–2005 and from expendable bathythermograph observations for 1993–2005 were analyzed to study the formation and variation of temperature inversions (T‐inversions) in the eastern subarctic North Pacific (SNP). The formation and variation of T‐inversions differed significantly between the northern and southern regions of the eastern SNP. In the northern region, the temperature minimum (T‐min) at the top of T‐inversions outcropped to the sea surface and was cooled in the mixed layer nearly every winter. This process caused a seasonal cycle in the magnitude of T‐inversions (ΔT), with a maximum in winter. In the southern region, the winter T‐min outcropped relatively infrequently and the ΔT did not exhibit a significant maximum in winter during most years. The T‐min in the southern region was likely to outcrop upstream near the date line roughly one year earlier and was then advected to the southern region.