North Pacific Gyre Oscillation Synchronizes Climate Fluctuations in the Eastern and Western Boundary Systems*
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Recent studies have identified the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) as a mode of climate variability that is linked to previously unexplained fluctuations of salinity, nutrient, and chlorophyll in the northeast Pacific. The NPGO reflects changes in strength of the central and eastern branches of the subtropical gyre and is driven by the atmosphere through the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO), the second dominant mode of sea level pressure variability in the North Pacific. It is shown that Rossby wave dynamics excited by the NPO propagate the NPGO signature in the sea surface height (SSH) field from the central North Pacific into the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE), and trigger changes in the strength of the KOE with a lag of 2–3 yr. This suggests that the NPGO index can be used to track changes in the entire northern branch of the North Pacific subtropical gyre. These results also provide a physical mechanism to explain coherent decadal climate variations and ecosystem changes between the North Pacific eastern and western boundaries.
Source: Journal of Climate
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: US-GLOBEC NEP Phase IIIb-CGOA: Synthesis of biophysical observations at multiple trophic levels using spatially nested, data-assimilating models of the Coastal Gulf of Alaska, G222768804, G275439429, G4045805405, Collaborative Research: Eddy-Dynamics and Impacts of Low-Frequency Variations in the California Current System, THE PAST DECADE HAS WITNESSED MAJOR ADVANCES IN SPACE-BORNE REMOTE SENSING THAT HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED OUR ABILITY TO OBSERVE AND STUDY OCEANS ATMOSPHE, G5230752107, Collaborative Research:GLOBEC Pan-regional Synthesis: Pacific Ocean Boundary Ecosystems: response to natural and anthropogenic climate forcing, JOINT INSTITUTE FOR MARINE AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH (JIMAR), G5960338988, Collaborative Research: Eddy-Dynamics and Impacts of Low-Frequency Variations in the California Current System, UNDERSTANDING ANNUAL CYCLE-ENSO INTERACTIONS IN CLIMATE CHANGE SIMULATIONS, Collaborative Research: Decadal Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions in the North Pacific, UNDERSTANDING ANNUAL CYCLE-ENSO INTERACTIONS IN CLIMATE CHANGE SIMULATIONS
OpenAlex ID: W2049695700