Numerical study of interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean

RONG Xin-yao; ZHANG Ren-he; SU Jing-zhi

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RONG Xin-yao, ZHANG Ren-he, SU Jing-zhi. Numerical study of interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean[J]. Haiyang Xuebao, 2011, 33(5): 9-22.

Citation:

RONG Xin-yao, ZHANG Ren-he, SU Jing-zhi. Numerical study of interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean[J]. Haiyang Xuebao, 2011, 33(5): 9-22.

RONG Xin-yao, ZHANG Ren-he, SU Jing-zhi. Numerical study of interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean[J]. Haiyang Xuebao, 2011, 33(5): 9-22.

Citation:

RONG Xin-yao, ZHANG Ren-he, SU Jing-zhi. Numerical study of interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean[J]. Haiyang Xuebao, 2011, 33(5): 9-22.

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Numerical study of interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean

Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 10081,China

Received Date: 2010-03-17

Abstract

Abstract

Interannual variations of the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean and its mechanisms are investigated by using a global oceanic general circulation model forcing with three wind stress datasets. The results show that the subtropical-tropical pycnocline mass exchange in the Pacific Ocean varies significantly on interannual time scales, and the variation of the interior pycnocline transport is found to be anticorrelated to the boundary pycnocline transport and the former is generally compensated by the latter. Comparison between two hemispheres shows that the variabilities of boundary and interior transports of southern hemisphere are more pronounced than those of northern hemisphere, also the correlation coefficients and compensation rate between boundary and interior transports of southern hemisphere are larger than those of northern hemisphere, but the variability of the net transport of southern hemisphere is smaller than that of northern hemisphere. In both hemispheres, the counteracting tendency of the boundary and interior transports is primarily due to the propagation of baroclinic Rossby waves induced by the changes of the off-equatorial wind stress curl. The sensitive experiments show that the net pycnocline transports in both the northern and southern hemisphere are mainly attributed to the variability of near-equatorial zonal wind stress, whereas the effect of the propagation of baroclinic Rossby waves only plays a second role and could not results in such a compensation rate in each hemisphere.
- STC,
- pycnocline,
- interannual variability,
- OGCM

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References(39)

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