Search

A marine heatwave (MHW) is typically defined as an anomalous warm event in the surface ocean, with wide-ranging impacts on marine and socio-economic systems. The surface warming associated with MHWs can penetrate into the deep ocean; however, the vertical structure of MHWs is poorly known in the global ocean. Here, we identify four main types of MHWs with different vertical structures using Argo profiles: shallow, subsurface-reversed, subsurface-intensified, and deep MHWs. These MHW types are characterized by different spatial distributions with hotspots of subsurface-reversed and subsurface-intensified MHWs at low latitudes and shallow and deep MHWs at middle-high latitudes. These vertical structures are influenced by ocean dynamical processes, including oceanic planetary waves, boundary currents, eddies, and mixing. The area and depth of all types of MHWs exhibit significant increasing trends over the past two decades. These results contribute to a better understanding of the physical drivers and ecological impacts of MHWs in a warming climate. The authors identify four main types of vertical structures of marine heatwaves, with different impact depths and spatio-temporal distributions, that are influenced by multiscale ocean dynamical processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) basin-wide warming occurred in 2020, following an extreme positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event instead of an El Niño event, which is the first record since the 1960s. The extreme 2019 IOD induced the oceanic downwelling Rossby waves and thermocline warming in the southwest TIO, leading to sea surface warming via thermocline-SST feedback during late 2019 to early 2020. The southwest TIO warming triggered equatorially antisymmetric SST, precipitation, and surface wind patterns from spring to early summer. Subsequently, the cross-equatorial "C-shaped" wind anomaly, with northeasterly–northwesterly wind anomaly north–south of the equator, led to basin-wide warming through wind-evaporation-SST feedback in summer. This study reveals the important role of air–sea coupling processes associated with the independent and extreme IOD in the TIO basin-warming mode, which allows us to rethink the dynamic connections between the Indo-Pacific climate modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Niño induces an anomalous lower-tropospheric anticyclone over the tropical Northwest Pacific (NWP), accompanied by suppressed local convection and rainfall. The tropical NWP anomalies persist until the following summer, with major effects on the Asian summer monsoons. Based on the phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) multi-model ensemble, this study finds that climate models commonly underestimate this El Niño-NWP teleconnection with too weak tropical NWP anticyclone and rainfall anomalies in post-El Niño summers, potentially limiting the models' skill in seasonal prediction of the Asian summer monsoons. The analyses show that such underestimated NWP anomalies in post-El Niño summers in CMIP5 models can be traced back to the well-known excessive equatorial Pacific cold tongue error in the mean. Models with an excessive westward extension of Pacific cold tongue tend to displace westward the simulated pattern of El Niño-related warm SST anomalies along the equator. The warm SST biases over the western Pacific in CMIP5 models would enhance the local atmospheric convection/rainfall and induce low-level cyclonic circulation anomalies over the tropical NWP with a Gill-type Rossby wave response, resulting in the commonly underestimated NWP anticyclone and rainfall anomalies during post-El Niño summers. The present results, along with our previous finding that the equatorial cold tongue bias would distort the projections of tropical Pacific warming pattern under increased greenhouse gas scenario, imply that reducing equatorial cold tongue bias in models can substantially improve climate simulation and prediction/projection for the tropical Pacific and Asian monsoons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Interannual-to-decadal variability and trends of sea level in the South China Sea (SCS) are studied using altimetric data during 1993-2012 and reconstructed sea level data from 1950-2009. The interannual variability shows a strong seasonality. Surface wind anomalies associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation explain the sea-level anomaly pattern in the interior SCS, while Rossby waves radiated from the eastern boundary dominate the sea-level variability in the eastern SCS. Decadal variability of sea level in the SCS follows that in the western tropical Pacific, with large variance found west of Luzon Island. Local atmospheric forcing makes a negative contribution to decadal variability in the central SCS, and Rossby waves radiated from the eastern boundary appear to be important. During 1993-2012, decadal sea level averaged in the SCS is significantly correlated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) ( r = −0.96). The decadal variability associated with the PDO accounts for most part of sea-level trends in the SCS in the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intra-seasonal variability of sea level anomalies (SLAs) originated in the Pacific Ocean around the Philippine Archipelago was investigated using merged altimetry SLA measurements and eddy-resolving ocean model outputs. The results suggest the SLA signals from the tropical North Pacific propagate westward as baroclinic Rossby waves on an intra-seasonal time scale. Upon impinging the east coast of the Philippines, these Rossby wave signals transform into coastal trapped waves (CTWs), propagate clockwise along the coast of the Philippine Archipelago and enter into the eastern South China Sea (SCS) through the Sibutu Passage and Mindoro Strait. The SLA signals, however, cannot propagate anticlockwise and enter into the eastern SCS through the Luzon Strait. The intra-seasonal oceanic wave processes are clearly identified by the eddy-resolving model. The effect of along-shore wind forcing on the SLA signals appears insignificant when compared with the remote signals coming from the interior Pacific. While identified in the model simulation, future observations are needed to verify the intra-seasonal CTWs encircling the Philippine Archipelago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]