Temporal and spatial variabilities of Japan Sea surface temperature and atmospheric forcings

In this study, we used the National Centers for Environmental Prediction monthly sea surface temperature (SST) and surface air temperature (SAT) data during 1982–1994 and the National Center for Atmospheric Research surface wind stress curl data during 1982–1989 to investigate the Japan Sea SST temporal and spatial variabilities and their relations to atmospheric forcing. First, we found an asymmetry in the correlation coefficients between SST and wind stress curl, which implies that the SST variability at the scales of the order of one month is largely due to atmospheric forcing. Second, we performed three analyses on the data fields: annual mean, composite analysis to obtain the monthly anomaly relative to the annual mean, and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis on the residue data relative to the summation of the annual mean and the monthly anomaly. The first EOF mode of SST accounts for 59.9% of the variance and represents the Subpolar Front. The temporal variation of the first EOF mode implies that the deep Japan Sea could be cooler in cold seasons (November–April) of 1984–1987. Third, we computed cross-correlation coefficients among various principal components and found that the atmospheric warming/cooling is the key factor causing intra-seasonal and interannual SST variabilities.