Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability
Patterns of sea surface temperature (SST) variability over the northern oceans arise from a combination of atmospheric, oceanic, and coupled processes. In this work, we use a novel methodology and a suite of observations to quantify the processes contributing to the dominant patterns of interannual...
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1618819 2023-07-30T04:05:12+02:00 Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability Myers, Timothy A. Mechoso, Carlos R. 2021-02-23 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1618819 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1618819 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086321 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1618819 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1618819 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086321 doi:10.1029/2019GL086321 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES 2021 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086321 2023-07-11T09:41:58Z Patterns of sea surface temperature (SST) variability over the northern oceans arise from a combination of atmospheric, oceanic, and coupled processes. In this work, we use a novel methodology and a suite of observations to quantify the processes contributing to the dominant patterns of interannual SST variability over these regions. We decompose the upper ocean heat content tendency associated with such dominant patterns into contributions from different heat fluxes: (a) atmospherically driven, (b) surface feedbacks, and (c) oceanic. We find that in the subtropics, cloud radiative flux, turbulent heat flux, and residual oceanic processes each contributes substantially to North Pacific SST variability, whereas turbulent heat flux primarily induces North Atlantic SST variability. Cloud radiative fluxes therefore provide a major source of interannual SST variability in the North Pacific but not in the North Atlantic. In midlatitudes, SST fluctuations over the northern oceans are driven by the combination of turbulent and oceanic heat fluxes. Other/Unknown Material North Atlantic SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Pacific Geophysical Research Letters 47 5 |
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Open Polar |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES Myers, Timothy A. Mechoso, Carlos R. Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES |
description |
Patterns of sea surface temperature (SST) variability over the northern oceans arise from a combination of atmospheric, oceanic, and coupled processes. In this work, we use a novel methodology and a suite of observations to quantify the processes contributing to the dominant patterns of interannual SST variability over these regions. We decompose the upper ocean heat content tendency associated with such dominant patterns into contributions from different heat fluxes: (a) atmospherically driven, (b) surface feedbacks, and (c) oceanic. We find that in the subtropics, cloud radiative flux, turbulent heat flux, and residual oceanic processes each contributes substantially to North Pacific SST variability, whereas turbulent heat flux primarily induces North Atlantic SST variability. Cloud radiative fluxes therefore provide a major source of interannual SST variability in the North Pacific but not in the North Atlantic. In midlatitudes, SST fluctuations over the northern oceans are driven by the combination of turbulent and oceanic heat fluxes. |
author |
Myers, Timothy A. Mechoso, Carlos R. |
author_facet |
Myers, Timothy A. Mechoso, Carlos R. |
author_sort |
Myers, Timothy A. |
title |
Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability |
title_short |
Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability |
title_full |
Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability |
title_fullStr |
Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Relative Contributions of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Coupled Processes to North Pacific and North Atlantic Variability |
title_sort |
relative contributions of atmospheric, oceanic, and coupled processes to north pacific and north atlantic variability |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1618819 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1618819 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086321 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1618819 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1618819 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086321 doi:10.1029/2019GL086321 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086321 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
47 |
container_issue |
5 |
_version_ |
1772816973829242880 |