Western Pacific in glacial cycles:Seasonality in marginal seas and variabilities of Warm Pool

A serics of low-latitude marginal seas, ranging from the southern South China Sea in the north to the Arafura Sea in the south, are located within the Western Pacific Warm Pool. As shown by rnicropaleontological, isotopical and organic geochemical analyses, the sea surface temperatures in the marginal seas at the last glacial maximum were much cooler than those in the open Western Pacific Ocean. The emergence of extensive shelves of the marginal seas at the glacial low sea-level stand and the decrease of surface temperatures in their deeper water parts resulted in a remarkable reduction of the ability of vapor and heat transport to the atmosphere, causing variabilities to the Warm Pool in the glacial cycles. The intensification of winter monsoon at the glacial stages not only led to a decrease of the surface water temperature and hence to an enhanced seasonality, but also carried moisture from the sea to the tropical islands, giving rise to the downward shift of snowline and mountainous vegetation zones there. It may offer a new alternative in solution of the “Tropical Ocean Paleo-temperature Enigma”. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49576286).     

Bacterial community in sediment from the Western Pacific "Warm Pool" and its relationship to environment

Total DNAs were extracted from different sections of deep sea sediment core sample collected from the Western Pacific "Warm Pool". The bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) clone libraries were constructed and analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and DNA sequencing. The bacterial communities in these samples and their relationship to environment were analyzed consequently. The results indicated that among eight main bacterial groups found in these sediments, members of the γ-Proteobacteria were most abundant in each section of sediment core sample and the genus Colwellia belonging to γ-Proteobacteria was dominant in this area. Members of the α-Proteobacteria were found commonly existing in these samples, while members belonging to β-Proteobacteria were seldom detected. The diversity of bacterial communities from different sections of sediment core sample was δ- and ε-Proteo-bacteria and the bacterial group including genera Cytopahga, Flexibacteria and Bacteroides (CFB group)     

Comparison of reduced-order, sequential and variational data assimilation methods in the tropical Pacific Ocean

This paper presents a comparison of two reduced-order, sequential, and variational data assimilation methods: the singular evolutive extended Kalman filter (SEEK) and the reduced 4D-Var (R-4D-Var). A hybridization of the two, combining the variational framework and the sequential evolution of covariance matrices, is also preliminarily investigated and assessed in the same experimental conditions. The comparison is performed using the twin-experiment approach on a model of the tropical Pacific domain. The assimilated data are simulated temperature profiles at the locations of the TAO/TRITON array moorings. It is shown that, in a quasilinear regime, both methods produce similarly good results. However, the hybrid approach provides slightly better results and thus appears as potentially fruitful. In a more nonlinear regime, when tropical instability waves develop, the global nature of the variational approach helps control model dynamics better than the sequential approach of the SEEK filter. This aspect is probably enhanced by the context of the experiments in that there is a limited amount of assimilated data and no model error.     

Influence of atmospheric heat sources over the Tibetan Plateau and the tropical western North Pacific on the inter-decadal variations of the stratosphere-troposphere exchange of water vapor

This study investigates the Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange(STE) of water vapor,emphasizes its interdecadal variations over Asia in boreal summer,and discusses the influences of atmospheric heat sources over the Tibetan Plateau and the tropical western North Pacific(WNP) on them by using the Wei method with reanalysis data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ECMWF) for the years of 1958-2001.The climatology shows that the upward transport of water vapor across the tropopause in boreal summer is the most robust over the joining area of the South Asian Peninsula and Indian-Pacific Oceans(defined as AIPO).The upward transport over there can persistently convey the abundant water vapor into the stratosphere and then influence the distribution and variation of the stratospheric water vapor.The analysis shows that interdecadal variations of the water vapor exchange over the AIPO are significant,and its abrupt change occurred in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s.In these three periods,as important channels of the water vapor exchange,the effect of Bay of Bengal-East Asia as well as South China Sea was gradually weakening,while the role of the WNP becomes more and more important.Further studies show that atmospheric heat sources over the Tibetan Plateau and the WNP are two main factors in determining the interdecadal variations of water vapor exchange.The thermal influences over the Tibetan Plateau and the WNP have been greatly adjusted over the pass 44 years.Their synthesis influences the interdecadal variations of the water vapor exchange by changing the Asian summer monsoon,but their roles vary with time and regions.Especially after 1992,the influence of heat source over the Tibetan Plateau remarkably weakens,while the heat source over the WNP dominates the across-tropopause water vapor exchange.Results have important implications for understanding the transport of other components in the atmosphere and estimating the impact of human activities(emission) on global climate.