Ocean Multi-Decadal Changes and Temperatures

IPCC AR4 did an exemplary job explaining the patterns of climate variability through global teleconnections and defining the circulation indices including the short term and decadal scale oscillations in the Pacific, and Atlantic. It noted that the decadal variability in the Pacific (the Pacific Dec...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Joseph D’aleo
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.365.8343
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Ocean_Multidecadal_Cycles.pdf
Description
Summary:IPCC AR4 did an exemplary job explaining the patterns of climate variability through global teleconnections and defining the circulation indices including the short term and decadal scale oscillations in the Pacific, and Atlantic. It noted that the decadal variability in the Pacific (the Pacific Decadal Oscillation or PDO) is likely due to oceanic processes. Extratropical ocean influences are likely to play a role as changes in the ocean gyre and Aleutian low evolve and heat anomalies are subducted and reemerge. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is thought to be due to changes in the strength of the thermohaline circulation. Though the IPCC AR4 describes some of the recent research on these phenomena, it does not draw out their importance for explaining global climate changes over multi-decadal intervals. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Its Effects JPL and University of Washington scientists (Mantua et al., 1997) when examining conditions that might explains multidecadal tendencies in the success of salmon fisheries found patterns a full basin North Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies and overlying surface pressure stayed in one mode predominantly for a few decades and then would flip to the opposite mode. They called this apparent oscillation the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO).