Northeast Pacific marine heatwaves associated with high-latitude atmospheric blocking

The Northeast Pacific Ocean (NEP) is one of the hotspots of marine heatwaves (MHWs) occurring in the global ocean. The causes of MHWs in this region have been widely investigated, but the physical processes underlying heatwaves and regional climate variability remain under debate. By analyzing inter...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Research Letters
Main Authors: Xingfei Niu, Yihui Chen, Chengfeng Le
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023
Subjects:
Alaska blocking index
sea surface temperature
marine heatwaves
zonal wind
Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
TD1-1066
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Science
Q
Physics
QC1-999
Pacific
Subarctic
Alaska
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0e35
https://doaj.org/article/373c632a83bd4ad0a9a6c30a9743cc18
Description
Summary:The Northeast Pacific Ocean (NEP) is one of the hotspots of marine heatwaves (MHWs) occurring in the global ocean. The causes of MHWs in this region have been widely investigated, but the physical processes underlying heatwaves and regional climate variability remain under debate. By analyzing interannual large-scale high-latitude atmospheric dynamics and oceanic physical conditions over the NEP, we show that winter-spring sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies are strongly correlated with winter-spring atmospheric blocking events over Alaska. The occurrence of weaker westerly wind over the subarctic region over the NEP during the period of the blocking, accompanies a shallower vertical mixed layer, less southward horizontal Ekman transport, and higher SST in the upper NEP. These findings establish a linkage between high-latitude atmospheric dynamics and subarctic oceanic conditions and reveal the physical mechanisms of this connection, providing new insight into the possible causes of MHW in the NEP.

Similar Items