Salinity minimum in the tropical Pacific

It is shown that the salinity minimum at subsurface depths of the tropical Pacific is a local phenomenon. Characteristics of the salinity minimum are relative by absolute values and variable in time. It appears and disappears in the intertropical convergence zone according to variability of the freshwater budget sign. The salinity minimum appears during the negative phase of the freshwater budget on the background of the previous freshening of the sea surface. The salinity minimum at intermediate depths in both hemispheres is a single phenomenon of climatic time scale. At present, it exists at intermediate layers in the arid zones of both hemispheres due to the negative phase of the freshwater budget. This minimum is related to the Earth climate system variability at the geological time scale. Differences in its properties in the Northern and Southern hemispheres reflect differences in the freshwater budget values and the duration of their influence at the geological time scale.     

Decadal change in relationship between western North Pacific tropical cyclone frequency and the tropical Pacific SST

In this study, we examine the relationship between the number of tropical cyclones (TCs) in the western North Pacific and the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) during the main TC season (July–November) for the period of 1965–2006. Results show that there are periods when TC frequency and the tropical Pacific SST are well correlated and periods when the relationship breaks down. Therefore, decadal variation is readily apparent in the relationship between the TC frequency and the SST variations in the tropical Pacific. We further examine the oceanic and atmospheric states in the two periods (i.e., 1979–1989 vs. 1990–2000) when the marked contrast in the correlation between the TC frequency and the tropical Pacific SST is observed. Before 1990, the analysis indicates that oceanic conditions largely influenced anomalous TC frequency, whereas atmospheric conditions had little impact. After 1990, there the reverse appears to be the case, i.e., atmospheric conditions drive anomalous TC frequency and oceanic conditions are relatively unimportant. A role of atmosphere and ocean in relation to the TC development in the western North Pacific changes, which is consistent with the change of the correlations between the TC frequency and the tropical Pacific SST.     

太平洋热带海区海洋气象特征

本文通过对中美首次太平洋热带海区调查资料的分析研究,得到如下较为有意义的结果:(1)今冬(1985年12月—1986年2月)海面气温28℃包围的暖中心范围比历年大,而且方向由西北-东南向(主体)变成东西向;(2)太平洋热带海区海面蒸发量分布特征是:较高纬度海区大于赤道海区,大洋西部大于东部,海区平均日蒸发量小于湾流和黑潮海区;(3)该区大气结构特征是:逆温层高度都在850hPa以上,在多台风的Ⅱ区,对流层内没有发现大气逆温层,这和人们已掌握的事实是完全一致的。     

Linkages between the North Pacific Oscillation and central tropical Pacific SSTs at low frequencies

The North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) recently (re-)emerged in the literature as a key atmospheric mode in Northern Hemisphere climate variability, especially in the Pacific sector. Defined as a dipole of sea level pressure (SLP) between, roughly, Alaska and Hawaii, the NPO is connected with downstream weather conditions over North America, serves as the atmospheric forcing pattern of the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), and is a potential mechanism linking extratropical atmospheric variability to El Ni?o events in the tropical Pacific. This paper explores further the forcing dynamics of the NPO and, in particular, that of its individual poles. Using observational data and experiments with a simple atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), we illustrate that the southern pole of the NPO (i.e., the one near Hawaii) contains significant power at low frequencies (7–10?years), while the northern pole (i.e., the one near Alaska) has no dominant frequencies. When examining the low-frequency content of the NPO and its poles separately, we discover that low-frequency variations (periods >7?years) of the NPO (particularly its subtropical node) are intimately tied to variability in central equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) associated with the El Ni?o-Modoki/Central Pacific Warming (CPW) phenomenon. This result suggests that fluctuations in subtropical North Pacific SLP are important to monitor for Pacific low-frequency climate change. Using the simple AGCM, we also illustrate that variability in central tropical Pacific SSTs drives a significant fraction of variability of the southern node of the NPO. Taken together, the results highlight important links between secondary modes (i.e., CPW-NPO-NPGO) in Pacific decadal variability, akin to already established relationships between the primary modes of Pacific climate variability (i.e., canonical El Ni?o, the Aleutian Low, and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation).     

Sensitivity of the tropical Pacific Ocean to precipitation-induced freshwater flux

We have performed experiments using an ocean model to study the sensitivity of tropical Pacific Ocean to variations in precipitation induced freshwater fluxes. Variations in these fluxes arise from natural causes on all time scales. In addition, estimates of these fluxes are uncertain because of differences among measurement techniques. The model used is a quasi-isopycnal model, covering the Pacific from 40?°S to 40?°N. The surface forcing is constructed from observed wind stress, evaporation, precipitation, and sea surface temperature (SST) fields. The heat flux is produced with an iterative technique so as to maintain the model close to the observed climatology, but with only a weak damping to that climatology. Climatological estimates of evaporation are combined with various estimates of precipitation to determine the net surface freshwater flux. Results indicate that increased freshwater input decreases salinity as expected, but increases temperatures in the upper ocean. Using the freshwater flux estimated from the Microwave Sounding Unit leads to a warming of up to 0.6?°C in the western Pacific over?a case with zero net freshwater flux. SST is sensitive to the discrepancies among different precipitation observations, with root-mean-square differences in SST on the order of 0.2–0.3?°C. The change in SST is more pronounced in the eastern Pacific, with difference of over 1?°C found among the various precipitation products. Interannual variation in precipitation during El Niño events leads to increased warming. During the winter of 1982–83, freshwater flux accounts for about 0.4?°C (approximately 10–15% of the maximum warming) of the surface warming in the central-eastern Pacific. Thus, the error of SST caused by the discrepancies in precipitation products is more than half of the SST anomaly produced by the interannual variability of observed precipitation. Further experiments, in which freshwater flux anomalies are imposed in the western, central, and eastern Pacific, show that the influence of net freshwater flux is also spatially dependent. The imposition of freshwater flux in the far western Pacific leads to a trapping of salinity anomalies to the surface layers near the equator. An identical flux imposed in the central Pacific produces deeper and off-equatorial salinity anomalies. The contrast between these two simulations is consistent with other simulations of the western Pacific barrier layer formation.     

The influence of tropical Pacific forcing on the Arctic Oscillation

The potential role of tropical Pacific forcing in driving the seasonal variability of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is explored using both observational data and a simple general circulation model (SGCM). A lead–lag regression technique is first applied to the monthly averaged sea surface temperature (SST) and the AO index. The AO maximum is found to be related to a negative SST anomaly over the tropical Pacific three months earlier. A singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis is then performed on the tropical Pacific SST and the sea level pressure (SLP) over the Northern Hemisphere. An AO-like atmospheric pattern and its associated SST appear as the second pair of SVD modes. Ensemble integrations are carried out with the SGCM to test the atmospheric response to different tropical Pacific forcings. The atmospheric response to the linear fit of the model’s empirical forcing associated with the SST variability in the second SVD modes strongly projects onto the AO. Idealized thermal forcings are then designed based on the regression of the seasonally averaged tropical Pacific precipitation against the AO index. Results indicate that forcing anomalies over the western tropical Pacific are more effective in generating an AO-like response while those over the eastern tropical Pacific tend to produce a Pacific-North American (PNA)-like response. The physical mechanisms responsible for the energy transport from the tropical Pacific to the extratropical North Atlantic are investigated using wave activity flux and vorticity forcing formalisms. The energy from the western tropical Pacific forcing tends to propagate zonally to the North Atlantic because of the jet stream waveguide effect while the transport of the energy from the eastern tropical Pacific forcing mostly concentrates over the PNA area. The linearized SGCM results show that nonlinear processes are involved in the generation of the forced AO-like pattern.     

The impact of tropical western Pacific convection on the North Pacific atmospheric circulation during the boreal winter

In this study, we investigate the impact of atmospheric convection over the western tropical Pacific (100–145°E, 0–20°N) on the boreal winter North Pacific atmosphere flow by analyzing National Center for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis 1, Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature and Global Precipitation Climatology Project data. The western tropical Pacific convection is not only the main energy source driving the local Hadley and Walker circulations, but it also significantly influences North Pacific circulation, by modifying a mid-latitude Jet stream through the connection with the local Hadley circulation. On the one hand, this strong convection leads to a northward expansion of local Hadley cells simultaneous with a northward movement of the western North Pacific jet because of the close correlation between the Jet and Hadley circulation boundaries. On the other hand, this strong convection also intensifies tropical Pacific Walker circulation, which reduces the eastern Pacific sea surface temperature, resembling a La Nina state through the enhanced equatorial upwelling. The cooling of the eastern tropical Pacific has an inter-tropical convergence zone located further north; thus, the local Hadley circulation moves northward. As a result, the jet axis over the eastern North Pacific, which also corresponds to the boundary of the local Hadley circulation, moves to higher latitude. Consequently, this northward movement of the Jet axis over the North Pacific is reflected as a northwest–southeast dipole sea level pressure (SLP) pattern. The composite analysis of SLP over the North Pacific against the omega (Ω) (Pa/s) at 500 hPa over the western tropical Pacific actually reveals that this northwest-southeast dipole structure is attributed to the intensified tropical western Pacific convection, which pushes the Pacific Jet to the north. Finally we also analyzed south Pacific for the austral winter as did previously to North Pacific, and found that the results were consistent.     

西北太平洋热带气旋气候变化的若干研究进展

热带气旋气候变化研究不仅是当前国际热带气旋气候界的热点科学问题,而且也是具有现实意义的社会问题,各国气象学者和科学家们对此进行了广泛的研究。虽然热带气旋活动与气候变化之间的关系及其相应的内在物理机制至今还处在探究之中,但是近20多年来热带气旋气候学的研究还是取得了显著的进展。本文主要针对濒临中国的西北太平洋海域,回顾了热带气旋活动季节内、年际、年代际变化及其全球变暖背景下的变化趋势的气候学研究。此外,文中也对西北太平洋热带气旋气候学的研究进行了展望,并提出了该领域中一些亟待解决的科学问题。     

On the seasonal sea surface temperature variations in the tropical Pacific

Summary In this paper, we investigated physical processes that control the seasonal variations of sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific, using an intermediate ocean model. It is found that the westward propagation of sea surface temperature along the equator is attributed to dynamic response of the ocean to the wind (that consists of 3-dimensional temperature advection), whereas the northward propagation of sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific results from the thermodynamic response of the ocean to the surface heat flux, primarily shortwave radiation that includes the effect of low-level stratus clouds. The remote response of the eastern Pacific sea surface temperature to seasonally varying wind in the western Pacific is of secondary importance, compared to the local wind forcing. The results suggest that the mechanism that controls the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature is different from that associated with El Nino-Southern Oscillation.With 9 Figures     

热带太平洋地区海气系统的耦合振荡

本文讨论了东太平洋赤道海温和太平洋月平均云量距平的关系,结果表明:(1)东太平洋赤道海温距平和中太平洋赤道云量距平有很好的正相关,而与东、西太平洋赤道云量距平有很好负相关。所以太平洋赤道上空应该存在二个距平的东西向环流。(2)云和海温存在周期为34—38个月的耦合振荡,我们提出了云-辐射-海温机制来作解释。(3)在东太平洋海温暖水月的前12个月到后6个月期间,东太平洋赤道云量是负距平的(即偏少),这表明此期间可能是大气在影响海洋,亦即Walker环流影响海温变化,而不是海温影响了Walker 环流。海温和Walker环流是相互作用的,这种相互作用组成了大气和海洋之间的一种耦合振荡。(4)东太平洋海温、中太平洋云和北半球中、西太平洋信风亦有很好的相关。     

西北太平洋近赤道热带气旋生成的特征分析

1979—2012年西北太平洋存在70个形成于0°～5°N的低纬度地区的热带气旋(TC),占TC总量的8%,其中达到台风等级的个数占64%。而针对此类缺少一定科氏力作用而形成的罕见TC生成的研究相对较少。本文利用JTWC的TC最佳观测资料、ERA-Interim再分析资料,以及NOAA-OISST海温资料,以西北太平洋近赤道TC为研究对象,统计诊断了其年际、年代际、季节分布特征,分析了其大尺度环境背景场,重点探讨了近赤道TC生成的影响因子。研究结果表明,近赤道TC具有明显的年际与年代际变化,并且近赤道TC具有与西北太平洋总TC恰好相反的季节变化。近赤道TC生成的大尺度环境背景场是东北冬季风与其在近赤道地区偏转形成的西北风之间的气旋性环流。对流层低层的绝对涡度动力项与对流层中层的湿度热量项是近赤道TC生成的主要贡献因子,并且相对于5°～10°N生成的TC,近赤道TC对对流层低层的正涡度与对流层中层的湿度条件的要求更高。     

Diagnosing the spatiotemporal diversity of westerly wind events in the tropical Pacific

Westerly Wind Events (WWEs) over the tropical Pacific are characterized by their spatiotemporal diversity and classified into six types based on their different locations and durations. Various types of WWEs exhibit quite different characteristics in terms of their amplitudes. The long events with a 10–30-day duration are stronger than the short events with a 6–10-day duration, and the maximum amplitudes of the Central-Pacific (C) type and Eastern-Pacific (E) type of long events are larger than the Western-Pacific (W) type of long ones. The evolutions of these six types of WWEs are also quite different. The W-type short and long events and the C-type long events show a distinct eastward propagation, whereas the C-type short events and the E-type short and long events have no apparent propagation direction. We demonstrate that such a difference in the eastward propagation of WWEs can be significantly associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The W-type events are more influenced heavily by the MJO, as indicated by their more distinct eastward propagation patterns, than the two other types of WWEs. In addition to the MJO, the convectively coupled Kelvin waves are also associated with the WWEs, especially for the short events.     

夏季热带北大西洋海温异常对西北太平洋热带气旋生成的影响

利用1979—2012年西北太平洋热带气旋最佳路径资料,Hadley中心的海温资料和NCEP/NCAR再分析资料等,研究了夏季(6—10月)热带北大西洋海温异常与西北太平洋热带气旋(Tropical Cyclone,TC)生成的关系及其可能机制。结果表明,夏季热带北大西洋海温异常与同期西北太平洋TC生成频次之间存在显著的负相关关系。热带北大西洋海温的异常增暖可产生一对东—西向分布的偶极型低层异常环流,其中气旋性异常环流位于北大西洋/东太平洋地区,反气旋异常环流位于西北太平洋地区。该反气旋环流异常使得TC主要生成区的对流活动受到抑制、低层涡度正异常、中低层相对湿度负异常、中层下沉气流异常,这些动力/热力条件均不利于TC生成。此外,西北太平洋地区低层涡旋动能负异常,同时来自大尺度环流的涡旋动能的正压转换也受到抑制,不能为TC的生成和发展提供额外能量源。反之亦然。     

西北太平洋热带气旋路径的历史模拟

基于IBTrACS提供的热带气旋最佳路径数据集,在统计分析历史热带气旋的发生年频次、发生位置、路径移动及强度变化等的基础上,建立了西北太平洋热带气旋轨迹合成模型。模型包括生成模型、移动模型、消亡模型及强度模型4个部分,并从地理轨迹密度、年登陆率、登陆风速分布三个方面,对模拟的气旋路径与历史气旋路径进行比较,以验证模型的准确性和可靠性。结果表明,构建的西北太平洋热带气旋全路径统计模拟模型稳健可靠,可进一步应用于研究区热带气旋的定量精细化的风险评估,能提高气旋风险灾害评估的可信度。     

季风低压对台风生成影响的观测分析

选取2007年和2009年发生的4个季风低压个例, 利用FNL资料和CMORPH卫星反演的降水资料, 采用多尺度环流分析法, 对西北太平洋季风环流的多尺度特征进行了分析, 研究季风低压对台风生成的可能影响。分析发现:季风低压生成于季风槽中, 其天气尺度波列的气旋性环流中。虽然以季风槽为特点的低频环流为台风生成提供大尺度气候条件, 但是季风低压通过进一步提供较大的正相对涡度, 可以有效减小Rossby变形半径, 促进热带低压中中尺度对流系统的相互作用和合并, 有利于台风的生成。