Long‐period ocean heat storage rates and basin‐scale heat fluxes from TOPEX

[1] Trends and interannual variability of the surface winds (SW), sea surface height (SSH), and sea surface temperature (SST) of the South China Sea (SCS) in 1993-2003 are analyzed using monthly products from satellite observations. Time series are smoothed with a 12-month running mean filter. The east and north components of the SW, SSH, and SST have linear trends of 0.53 ± 0.35 ms À1 decade À1 , À0.04 ± 0.17 ms À1 decade À1 , 6.7 ± 2.7 cm decade À1 , and 0.50 ± 0.26 K decade À1 , respectively. The sea level rising rate and sea surface warming rate are significantly higher than the corresponding global rates. An Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis is performed to evaluate the interannual variability. Results show that the first EOF of the SW is characterized by a basin-wide anticyclonic pattern. The corresponding time coefficient function (TCF) correlates with the Nino3.4 index at the 99% confidence level, with a lag of 3 months. The first EOF of the SSH is characterized by a low sea level along the eastern boundary. The corresponding TCF correlates with the Nino3.4 at the 99% level, with a lag of 2 months. The first EOF of the SST is characterized by a basin-wide warming with the highest anomalies in the north deep basin. The corresponding TCF correlates with the Nino3.4 index at the 95% level, with a lag of 8 months. Based on the EOF analysis, the ENSO-associated correlation patterns of the SW, SSH, and SST are presented.

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“…The SSH rising rate has the following relationship to the heat storage rate [cf. Yan et al, 1995Yan et al, , 2004Chambers et al, 1997] …”

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confidence: 99%

Trends and interannual variability of the South China Sea surface winds, surface height, and surface temperature in the recent decade

et al. 2006

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“…Most of the previous estimates of Upper Ocean Heat Content from altimetry were based on the method proposed by Chambers et al (1997). In that paper, the authors assumed that changes in the heat content could be related to changes in sea level by a linear relationship based on the assumption that the upper layer expansion/contraction was mainly due to temperature variations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A remote sensing derived upper ocean heat content dataset for the equatorial atlantic: comparison with pirata project data

Arruda¹,

Lentini²

2011

Rev. Bras. Geof.

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“…These quasi-global SSH anomaly measurements are dominated by the heat storage variability (Chambers et al 1997;Polito et al 2000;Sato and Rossby 2000;Sato and Polito 2008) and therefore establish the connection between satellite altimetry and climate change studies. Although too short for the analysis of decadal and interdecadal processes, statistically significant linear tendencies at interannual scales can be obtained from the altimeter data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Interannual Trends and Amplitude Modulations of the Sea Surface Height Anomaly from the TOPEX/Jason-1 Altimeters

Polito

Sato

2008

Journal of Climate

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This study uses the global Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Jason-1 altimeters' time series to estimate the 13-yr trend in sea surface height anomaly. These trends are estimated at each grid point by two methods: one fits a straight line to the time series and the other is based on the difference between the average height between the two halves of the time series. In both cases the trend shows large regional variability, mostly where the intense western boundary currents turn. The authors hypothesize that the regional variability of the sea surface height trends leads to changes in the local geostrophic transport. This in turn affects the instability-related processes that generate mesoscale eddies and enhances the Rossby wave signals. This hypothesis is verified by estimates of the trend of the amplitude of the filtered sea surface height anomaly that contains the spectral bands associated with Rossby waves and mesoscale eddies. The authors found predominantly positive tendency in the amplitude of Rossby waves and eddies, which suggests that, on average, these events are becoming more energetic. In some regions, the variation in amplitude over 13 yr is comparable to the standard deviation of the data and is statistically significant according to both methods employed in this study. It is plausible that in this case, the energy is transferred from the mean currents to the waves and eddies through barotropic and baroclinic instability processes that are more pronounced in the western boundary current extension regions. If these heat storage patterns and trends are confirmed on longer time series, then it will be justified to argue that the warming trend of the last century provides the energy that amplifies both Rossby waves and mesoscale eddies.

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Long‐period ocean heat storage rates and basin‐scale heat fluxes from TOPEX

Cited by 88 publications

References 19 publications

Trends and interannual variability of the South China Sea surface winds, surface height, and surface temperature in the recent decade

Trends and interannual variability of the South China Sea surface winds, surface height, and surface temperature in the recent decade

A remote sensing derived upper ocean heat content dataset for the equatorial atlantic: comparison with pirata project data

Global Interannual Trends and Amplitude Modulations of the Sea Surface Height Anomaly from the TOPEX/Jason-1 Altimeters

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