Variability of spice injection in the upper ocean of the southeastern Pacific during 1992–2016

Wang, Yingying; Luo, Yiyong

doi:10.1007/s00382-020-05164-y

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Here we suggest that buoyancy flux associated with ENSO is an important contributor to variability of the winter MLD, especially in the southeast part of the basin (Figure 3d). Under La Niña (El Niño) conditions, the winter MLD gets deeper (shallower) over most of the ESTMW formation region, which is in agreement with previous studies (e.g., Kolodziejczyk & Gaillard, 2012; Wang & Luo, 2020). In the STUW formation region, the winter MLD gets shallower (deeper) partly due to buoyancy gain (loss) under La Niña (El Niño) conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

An Anti‐Phase Relationship Between the Subtropical Underwater and Eastern Subtropical Mode Water in the South Pacific During 2004–2020

Wang

Qu²,

Luo

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

An Anti‐Phase Relationship Between the Subtropical Underwater and Eastern Subtropical Mode Water in the South Pacific During 2004–2020

Wang

Qu²,

Luo

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…In the Pacific, the original spiciness trends are generated in the eastern subtropics, in conjunction with past studies on the seasonal, interannual to decadal time scales (Kolodziejczyk & Gaillard, 2012Luo et al, 2005;Wang & Luo, 2020;Yeager & Large, 2004). First, our results show that the outcropping lines migrate poleward consistently in both hemispheres under global warming.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…It is thus not able to contribute to the generation of the negative spiciness anomalies in the present study. Wang (2020) also indicated a significant negative correlation between variations in spiciness generation and local SST. The SST increases, and upper ocean stratification enhances in the tropical/subtropical Pacific under global warming (Capotondi et al., 2012; Xie et al., 2010).…”

Section: Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Spice injection can only occur with weak stratification and destabilizing salinity. Such conditions lead to a strong diapycnal flux of salt and temperature at the base of a penetrating convective boundary layer, which locates between the mixed layer and thermocline with strong compensated density, and finally produces significant variability on isopycnal surfaces (Kolodziejczyk & Gaillard, 2013; Wang et al., 2020; Yeager & Large, 2004, 2007). As a result, spice injection can only generate positive spiciness anomalies over the eastern subtropics.…”

Section: Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spiciness anomalies can be produced in the outcropping region through air‐sea interaction and anomalous subduction (Johnson, 2006). Outside the outcropping region, anomalies can also be generated by convective mixing and isopycnal advection across spiciness fronts (Kolodziejczyk & Gaillard, 2013; Li & Wang, 2015; Schneider, 2000; Wang & Luo, 2020; Yeager & Large, 2004). On decadal/multidecadal timescale, extratropical spiciness anomalies can migrate to the tropics by wind‐driven ocean circulation and affect the tropical climate variability (Gu & Philander, 1997; McCreary & Lu, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subsurface Cooling in the Tropical Pacific Under a Warming Climate

Zhang

2022

JGR Oceans

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The present study investigates the subsurface temperature trend in the tropical Pacific in historical and SSP2‐4.5 simulation by 14 models from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. Robust cooling trends exist between 100 and 200 m in the off‐equatorial region (2°–8°N/S) of both the North and South Pacific during 1950–2100. Both spiciness variation and thermocline heave are important in driving this off‐equatorial subsurface cooling at a fixed level. The cooling spiciness trends in the off‐equatorial region originates from the eastern subtropical Pacific along isopycnal streamlines. Besides, the contribution of the thermocline heave to the cooling is governed by the large wind stress curl trend. Furthermore, the maximum negative spiciness trends occur in the eastern subtropics of both the North and South Pacific. The consistently poleward migration of outcropping lines makes cooler subducting water at higher latitudes directly flow into the subtropical subsurface, which induces the negative spiciness trends here. The generation of the negative spiciness trends is also partly attributed to the anomalous advection process on distinct isopycnal surfaces. These two processes both contribute to the generation of spiciness variation in both the North and South Pacific. The generation region is partly covered by the outcropping region, thus, the strong vertical mixing within the mixed layer may weaken the effect of the subduction and advection. This study mainly highlights the significance of the spiciness variation in the projection of the subsurface temperature trend on a longer time scale under global warming.

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Subtropical-tropical pathways of spiciness anomalies and their impact on equatorial Pacific temperature

et al. 2020

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Understanding mechanisms of tropical Pacific decadal variability (TPDV) is of high importance for differentiating between natural climate variability and human induced climate change as this region sustains strong global teleconnections. Here, we use an ocean general circulation model along with a Lagrangian tracer simulator to investigate the advection of density compensated temperature anomalies ("spiciness mechanism") as a potential contributor to TPDV during the 1980-2016 period. Consistent with observations, we find the primary regions of spiciness generation in the eastern subtropics of each hemisphere. Our results indicate that 75% of the equatorial subsurface water originates in the subtropics, of which two thirds come from the Southern hemisphere. We further show two prominent cases where remotely generated spiciness anomalies are advected to the equatorial Pacific, impacting subsurface temperature. The relative contribution of Northern versus Southern Hemisphere prominence and/or interior versus western boundary pathways depends on the specific event. The anomalously warm case largely results from advection via the Southern hemisphere interior (65% ), while the anomalously cold case largely results from advection via the Northern hemisphere western boundary (48% ). The relatively slow travel times from the subtropics to the equator (> 4 years) suggests that these spiciness anomalies underpin a potentially predictable contribution to TPDV. However, not all decadal peaks in equatorial spiciness can be explained by remotely generated spiciness anomalies. In those cases, we propose that spiciness anomalies are generated in the equatorial zone through changes in the proportion of Northern/Southern hemisphere source waters due to their different mean spiciness distribution.

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Variability of spice injection in the upper ocean of the southeastern Pacific during 1992–2016

Cited by 9 publications

References 35 publications

An Anti‐Phase Relationship Between the Subtropical Underwater and Eastern Subtropical Mode Water in the South Pacific During 2004–2020

An Anti‐Phase Relationship Between the Subtropical Underwater and Eastern Subtropical Mode Water in the South Pacific During 2004–2020

Subsurface Cooling in the Tropical Pacific Under a Warming Climate

Subtropical-tropical pathways of spiciness anomalies and their impact on equatorial Pacific temperature

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