Multiple causes of interannual sea surface temperature variability in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Ingo Richter*, Swadhin K. Behera, Yukio Masumoto, Bunmei Taguchi, Hideharu Sasaki, Toshio Yamagata

*この論文の責任著者

研究成果: ジャーナルへの寄稿学術論文査読

96 被引用数 (Scopus)

抄録

The eastern equatorial Atlantic Ocean is subject to interannual fluctuations of sea surface temperatures, with climatic impacts on the surrounding continents. The dynamic mechanism underlying Atlantic temperature variability is thought to be similar to that of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the equatorial Pacific, where air-sea coupling leads to a positive feedback between surface winds in the western basin, sea surface temperature in the eastern basin, and equatorial oceanic heat content. Here we use a suite of observational data, climate reanalysis products, and general circulation model simulations to reassess the factors driving the interannual variability. We show that some of the warm events can not be explained by previously identified equatorial wind stress forcing and ENSO-like dynamics. Instead, these events are driven by a mechanism in which surface wind forcing just north of the equator induces warm ocean temperature anomalies that are subsequently advected toward the equator. We find the surface wind patterns are associated with long-lived subtropical sea surface temperature anomalies and suggest they therefore reflect a link between equatorial and subtropical Atlantic variability.

本文言語英語
ページ(範囲)43-47
ページ数5
ジャーナルNature Geoscience
6
1
DOI
出版ステータス出版済み - 2013/01

ASJC Scopus 主題領域

  • 地球惑星科学一般

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