Oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

This paper is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific, the oceanic region centered on the eastern Pacific warm pool, but also including the equatorial cold tongue and equatorial current system, and summarizes what is known about oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans there. The eastern tropical Pacific supports on the order of 50 species of seabirds and 30 species of cetaceans as regular residents; these include four endemic species, the world’s largest populations for several others, three endemic sub-species, and a multi-species community that is relatively unique to this ecosystem. Three of the meso-scale physical features of the region are particularly significant to seabirds and cetaceans: the Costa Rica Dome for blue whales and short-beaked common dolphins, the Equatorial Front for planktivorous seabirds, and the countercurrent thermocline ridge for flocking seabirds that associate with mixed-species schools of spotted and spinner dolphins and yellowfin tuna. A few qualitative studies of meso- to macro-scale distribution patterns have indicated that some seabirds and cetaceans have species-specific preferences for surface currents. More common are associations with distinct water masses; these relationships have been quantified for a number of species using several different analytical methods. The mechanisms underlying tropical species–habitat relationships are not well understood, in contrast to a number of higher-latitude systems. This may be due to the fact that physical variables have been used as proxies for prey abundance and distribution in species–habitat research in the eastern tropical Pacific.Though seasonal and interannual patterns tend to be complex, species–habitat relationships appear to remain relatively stable over time, and distribution patterns co-vary with patterns of preferred habitat for a number of species. The interactions between seasonal and interannual variation in oceanographic conditions with seasonal patterns in the biology of seabirds and cetaceans may account for some of the complexity in species–habitat relationship patterns.Little work has been done to investigate effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycles on cetaceans, and results of the few studies focusing on oceanic seabirds are complex and not easy to interpret. Although much has been made of the detrimental effects of El Niño events on apex predators, more research is needed to understand the magnitude, and even direction, of these effects on seabirds and cetaceans in space and time.     

耗散结构理论在判断南海热带气旋路径演变中的应用

本文用耗散结构理论推导出南海热带气旋的移动公式,通过实际应用和实例检验,证明它对估计南海热带气旋路径演变有一定的实用价值。     

0421号热带风暴"海马"登陆前后环境场对其移向和强度影响的分析

0421号热带风暴“海马(Haima)”于2004年9月13日12:00在浙江省温州市沿海登陆,登陆后迅速减弱为热带低压,20:00在浙江境内消失.本研究采用物理量诊断分析法,探讨该热带风暴登陆前后涡度场、湿焓场变化对其移向和强度的影响.结果表明,该热带风暴登陆后,涡度(ξ)明显减弱.涡度局地变化(ξ/t)值分布显示,风暴移动方向的后方,涡度减弱的趋势比前方涡度增大的趋势更剧烈;风暴有向其外围(ξ/t)正值中心(即涡度增幅最大)移动的趋势.该热带风暴登陆前、后,湿焓都增大,但登陆后湿焓增大趋势已大大减弱;风暴有向湿焓局地变化(E/t)正值中心移动的趋势,即向能量增强最大的方向移动.     

热带气旋对黄、渤海影响的统计特征分析

本文统计分析了1949—2000年共52年影响黄、渤海的热带气旋时空分布特点及ENS0、西太平洋副热带高压与影响黄、渤海的热带气旋关系。结果表明，西太平洋热带气放以四种主要路径影响黄、渤海，其影响时间、频数及强度均有不同。ENSO和西太平洋副热带高压的强度、位置将影响热带气旋对黄、渤海影响的路径和频数。     

南极普里兹湾气旋的生消发展

利用1989～2000年现场观测的气象资料,特别是自1997年以来在南极考察船上接收的NOAA卫星极轨高分辨的卫星云图,研究了普里兹湾气旋的生消发展;提出了夏季绕极气旋进入普里兹湾内也会发展加强,在湾内东风带里也能生成气旋的新观点,修正了普里兹湾仅是气旋墓地的不全面说法,从而进一步完善了南极西风带绕极气旋和东风带上气旋生消发展的理论;研究了普里兹湾冰-气-海相互作用的机理,解释了气旋发生、发展的物理过程.用整体动力学输送法计算了进入普里兹湾980205号绕极气旋爆发性发展的能量交换,指出气旋在超过冰坝进入冰间湖可以获得巨大的热量,使气旋迅速发展成为具有南极特色的强风暴,风力达12级以上,平均风速为38m/s;瞬时最大风速达100m/s.     

A dipole mode at thermocline layer in the tropical Indian Ocean

Temperature data at different layers of the past 45 years were studied and we found adiploe mode in the thermocline layer (DMT): anomalously cold sea temperature off the coast of Sumatra and warm sea temperature in the western Indian Ocean. First, we analyzed the temperature and the temperature anomaly (TA) along the equatorial Indian Ocean in different layers. This shows that stronger cold and warm TA signals appeared at subsurface than at the surface in the tropical Indian O-cean. This result shows that there may be a strong dipole mode pattern in the subsurface tropical Indian Ocean. Secondly we used Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) to analyze the TA at thermocline layer. The first EOF pattern was a dipole mode pattern. Finally we analyzed the correlations between DMT and surface tropical dipole mode (SDM), DMT and Nino 3 SSTA, etc. and these correlations are strong.     

Cyclone formation and development in the Antarctic Prydz Bay

Using meteorological data of field observation in 1990 - 2000, especially polar orbit high-resolution NOAA satellite cloud maps received from the Antarctic expedition vessel since 1997, the formation and development of the Prydz Bay cyclone are studied in this paper. Some new viewpoints are suggested such as: when surround-polar cyclone enters the Prydz Bay, it can also intensify and develop in summer; cyclone can also develop in the easterlies in this bay. These view points revise old uncom-plete view point that the Prydz Bay is a burial ground of cyclone, and also further consummate formation-development theory of surround-cyclone in the Antarctic westerlies and cyclone in the Antarctic easterlies. In this paper, the mechanism of ice-air-sea interaction in the Prydz Bay is studied, and the physical process of cyclone formation-development is explained. By use of wholly dynamic transportation method, an energy exchange case of a cyclone, which explosively developed after entering the Prydz Bay, is calcu     

东亚冬夏季风对热带印度洋秋季海温异常的响应

利用多年的Reynolds月平均海表温度资料和NCEP/NCAR全球大气再分析资料,分析了热带印度洋秋季海表温度距平(SSTA)与后期东亚冬夏季风强度变化的关系。结果表明,热带印度洋秋季SSTA的主要模态是全区一致(USB)型和偶极子(IOD)型,USB型模态主要代表热带印度洋秋季SSTA的长期变化趋势,而IOD型模态主要反映热带印度洋秋季SSTA的年际变化。热带印度洋秋季海温气候变率中既存在着明显的ENSO信号,也有独立于ENSO的变率特征,独立于ENSO的热带印度洋秋季SSTA变化的主要模态仍是USB型和IOD型。前期秋季USB模态与东亚冬季风及东亚副热带夏季风之间为负相关关系;与前期正(负)IOD模态相对应,南海夏季风强度偏弱(强),而东亚副热带夏季风强度偏强(弱)。USB型和IOD型模态对后期东亚冬、夏季风强度变化的影响是独立于ENSO的,但ENSO起到了调节二者相关显著程度的作用。     

Atmospheric forcing of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

The increase in marine, land surface, atmospheric and satellite data during recent decades has led to an improved understanding of the air–sea interaction processes in the eastern tropical Pacific. This is also thanks to extensive diagnoses from conceptual and coupled ocean–atmosphere numerical models. In this paper, mean fields of atmospheric variables, such as incoming solar radiation, sea level pressure, winds, wind stress curl, precipitation, evaporation, and surface energy fluxes, are derived from global atmospheric data sets in order to examine the dominant features of the low level atmospheric circulations of the region. The seasonal march of the atmospheric circulations is presented to depict the role of radiative forcing on atmospheric perturbations, especially those dominating the atmosphere at low levels.In the tropics, the trade winds constitute an important north–south energy and moisture exchange mechanism (as part of the low level branch of the Hadley circulation), that determines to a large extent the precipitation distribution in the region, i.e., that associated with the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Monsoonal circulations also play an important role in determining the warm season precipitation distribution over the eastern tropical Pacific through a large variety of air–sea–land interaction mechanisms. Westward traveling waves, tropical cyclones, low latitude cold air intrusions, and other synoptic and mesoscale perturbations associated with the ITCZ are also important elements that modulate the annual rainfall cycle. The low-level jets of the Gulf of California, the Intra-Americas Sea (Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea) and Chocó, Colombia are prominent features of the eastern tropical Pacific low-level circulations related to sub-regional and regional scale precipitation patterns. Observations show that the Intra-Americas Low-Level Jet intensity varies with El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases, however its origin and role in the westward propagation and development of disturbances that may hit the eastern tropical Pacific, such as easterly waves and tropical cyclones, are still unclear. Changes in the intensity of the trade winds in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (associated with eastern tropical Pacific wind jets) exert an important control on precipitation by means of wind–topography interactions. Gaps in the mountains of southern Mexico and Central America allow strong wind jets to pass over the continent imprinting a unique signal in sea surface temperatures and ocean dynamics of the eastern tropical Pacific.The warm pools of the Americas constitute an important source of moisture for the North American Monsoon System. The northeastern tropical Pacific is a region of intense cyclogenetic activity, just west of the coast of Mesoamerica. Over the oceanic regions, large-scale properties of key variables such as precipitation, moisture, surface energy fluxes and wind stress curl are still uncertain, which inhibits a more comprehensive view of the region and stresses the importance of regional field experiments. Progress has been substantial in the understanding of the ocean and atmospheric dynamics of the eastern tropical Pacific, however, recent observational evidence such as that of a shallow meridional circulation cell in that region, in contrast to the classic concept of the Hadley-type deep meridional circulation, suggests that more in situ observations to validate theories are still necessary.This paper is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.