Decadal Patterns of Westerly Winds, Temperatures, Ocean Gyre Circulations and Fish Abundance: A Review

• Published in: Climate
• Main Authors: Candace Oviatt, Leslie Smith, M. Conor McManus, Kimberly Hyde
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015
• Subjects: decadal climate patterns; ocean gyre circulation; decadal fish abundance; Science; Q; Arctic; Pacific
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/cli3040833; https://doaj.org/article/e7653f3226a842ecb74f755b2a536d7d

The purpose of this review is to describe the global scope of the multidecadal climate oscillations that go back at least, through several hundred years. Literature, historic data, satellite data and global circulation model output have been used to provide evidence for the zonal and meridional jet stream patterns. These patterns were predominantly zonal from the 1970s to 1990s and switched since the 1990s to a meridional wind phase, with weakening jet streams forming Rossby waves in the northern and southern hemispheres. A weakened northern jet stream has allowed northerly winds to flow down over the continents in the northern hemisphere during the winter period, causing some harsh winters and slowing anthropogenic climate warming regionally. Wind oscillations impact ocean gyre circulation affecting upwelling strength and pelagic fish abundance with synchronous behavior in sub Arctic gyres during phases of the oscillation and asynchronous behavior in subtropical gyres between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.