Characteristics of Semi-diurnal Internal Tides in the Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean Around 1°45′S,156°E

The analyses of a data series obtained during TOGA- COARE show the existence of remarkable semi-diurnal intemal tides in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean around 1°45＇S, 156°E. Some characteristic parameters of the internal tides are vertical wavenumber -1.6×10^-3 m^-1, horizontal wavenumber （wavelength） 3.3×10^-2 km^-1 （210 km）, vertical propagation speed -3.8 cm/s and horizontal propagation speed 2.0 m/s. The waveforms propagate downwards slantingly, that is, the wave energy transfers upwards slantingly. Depth-distribution of the＇rotary spectral levels is a saddle-shape. The depths of the trough and the deeper peaks are almost coincident with those of the south boundaries of the South Equatorial Current and the Equatorial Undercurrent, respectively. The mean orientation of the rotary spectral ellipse changes with depth： 30° from north to east at 40 m, and changes into 14° from east to south at 324 m, and generally, it points to northeastward, which indicates ＂that waves come from the southwest.

Sensitivity of the Upper Ocean Temperature and Circulation in the Equatorial Pacific to Solar Radiation Penetration Due to Phytoplankton

Solar radiation penetration in the upper ocean is strongly modulated by phytoplankton, which impacts the upper ocean temperature structure, especially in the regions abundant with phytoplankton. In the paper, a new solar radiation penetration scheme, based on the concentration of chlorophyll-a, was introduced into the LASG/IAP （State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics/Institute of Atmospheric Physics） Climate system Ocean Model （LICOM）. By comparing the simulations using this new scheme with those using the old scheme that included the constant e-folding attenuation depths in LICOM, it was found that the sea surface temperature （SST） and circulation in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific were both sensitive to the amount of phytoplankton present. Distinct from other regions, the increase of chlorophyll-a concentration would lead to SST decrease in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. The higher chlorophyll-a concentration at the equator in comparison to the off-equator regions can enlarge the subsurface temperature gradient, which in turn strengthens the upper current near the equator and induces an enhancing upwelling. The enhancing upwelling can then lead to a decrease in the SST in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. The results of these two sensitive experiments testify to the fact that the meridional gradient in the chlorophyll-a concentration can result in an enhancement in the upper current and a decrease in the SST, along with the observation that a high chlorophyll-a concentration at the equator is one of the predominant reasons leading to a decrease in the SST. This study points out that these results can be qualitatively different simply because of the choice of the solar radiation penetration schemes for comparison. This can help explain previously reported contradictory conclusions.

Combined Impacts of Warm Central Equatorial Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures and Anthropogenic Warming on the 2019 Severe Drought in East China

A severe drought occurred in East China(EC)from August to October 2019 against a background of long-term significant warming and caused widespread impacts on agriculture and society,emphasizing the urgent need to understand the mechanism responsible for this drought and its linkage to global warming.Our results show that the warm central equatorial Pacific(CEP)sea surface temperature(SST)and anthropogenic warming were possibly responsible for this drought event.The warm CEP SST anomaly resulted in an anomalous cyclone over the western North Pacific,where enhanced northerly winds in the northwestern sector led to decreased water vapor transport from the South China Sea and enhanced descending air motion,preventing local convection and favoring a precipitation deficiency over EC.Model simulations in the Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble Project confirmed the physical connection between the warm CEP SST anomaly and the drought in EC.The extremely warm CEP SST from August to October 2019,which was largely the result of natural internal variability,played a crucial role in the simultaneous severe drought in EC.The model simulations showed that anthropogenic warming has greatly increased the frequency of extreme droughts in EC.They indicated an approximate twofold increase in extremely low rainfall events,high temperature events,and concurrently dry and hot events analogous to the event in 2019.Therefore,the persistent severe drought over EC in 2019 can be attributed to the combined impacts of warm CEP SST and anthropogenic warming.

Effects of adjusting vertical resolution on the eastern equatorial Pacific cold tongue

The vertical resolution of LICOM1.0 (LASG/IAP Climate System Ocean Model, version 1.0) is adjusted by increasing the level amount within the upper 150 m while keeping the total of levels. It is found that the eastern equatorial Pacific cold tongue is sensitive to the adjustment. Compared with the simulation of the original level scheme, the adjusting yields a more realistic structure of cold tongue extending from the coast of Peru to the equator, as well as a temperature minimum at Costa Rica coast, north of the cold tongue. In the original scheme experiment, the sharp heating by net surface heat flux at the beginning of spin-up leads to a great warm- ing in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. The weak vertical advection due to a too thick mixed layer in the coarse vertical structure also accounts for the warm bias. The fact that most significant improvements of the upper 50 m temperature appear at the region of the thinnest mixed layer indicates the necessity of fine vertical resolution for the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. However, the westward extension of equatorial cold tongue, a defect in the original scheme, gets even more serious in the adjusting scheme due to the intensi- fied vertical velocity and hence vertical advection in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

An extended variable-grid global ocean circulation model and its preliminary results of the equatorial Pacific circulation

To investigate the interaction between the tropical Pacific and China seas a variable-grid global ocean circulation model with fine grid covering the area from 20°S to 50°N and from 99° to 150°E is developed. Numerical computation of the annually cyclic circulation fields is performed. The results of the annual mean zonal currents and deep to abyssal western boundary currents in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are reported. The North Equatorial Current,the North Equatorial Countercurrent, the South Equatorial Current and the Equatorial Undercurrent are fairly well simulated. The model well reproduces the northward flowing abyssal western boundary current.From the model results a lower deep western boundary current east of the Bismarck-Solomon-New Hebrides Island chain at depths around 2 000 m has been found. The model results also show that the currents in the equatorial Pacific Ocean have multi-layer structures both in zonal currents and western boundary currents, indicating that the global ocean overturning thermohaline circulation appears of multi-layer pattern.

Equatorward shift of annual Rossby waves in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean

Annual Rossby wave is a key component of the ENSO phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Due to the paucity and seasonal bias in historical hydrographic data,previous studies on equatorial Rossby waves only gave qualitative description. The accumulation of Argo measurements in recent years has greatly alleviated the data problem. In this study,seasonal variation of the equatorial Pacific Ocean is examined with annual harmonic analysis of Argo gridded data. Results show that strong seasonal signal is present in the western equatorial Pacific and explains more than 50% of the thermal variance below 500 m. Lag-correlation tracing further shows that this sub-thermocline seasonal signal originates from the eastern equatorial Pacific via downward and southwestward propagation of annual Rossby waves. Possible mechanisms for the equatorward shift of Rossby wave path are also discussed.

Crystals of suspended marine barite in the eastern equatorial Pacific:processes of dissolution and effects on crystal morphology

Suspended particulate substances were sampled in the eastem equatorial Pacific in water column from surface to near bottom in five stations in 2005, from which 868 barite crystals were recovered. The barite crystals were examined under scanning electron microscopy. About 61% of the total barites crystals contained detectable Sr by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Barite crystals could be classified into four groups based on their morphology： 1） bladed; 2） ovoid or rounded; 3） arrow-like; and 4） irregularly shaped. The arrow-like barite crystals in natural environment has never been reported before. In addition, about a half of the studied crystals showed features of dissolution as cavities or holes inside of the crystals or around their edges. We found that differential dissolution of barite crystals is consequence of heterogeneous Sr distribution in barite crystals. Our results would help in understanding the biogeochemical processes of marine barite formation and preservation in seawater and marine sediments.

Evaluating the Formation Mechanisms of the Equatorial Pacific SST Warming Pattern in CMIP5 Models

Based on the historical and RCP8.5 runs of the multi-model ensemble of 32 models participating in CMIP5, the present study evaluates the formation mechanisms for the patterns of changes in equatorial Pacific SST under global warming. Two features with complex formation processes, the zonal E1 Nifio-like pattern and the meridional equatorial peak warm- ing （EPW）, are investigated. The climatological evaporation is the main contributor to the E1 Nifio-like pattern, while the ocean dynamical thermostat effect plays a comparable negative role. The cloud-shortwave-radiation-SST feedback and the weakened Walker circulation play a small positive role in the E1 Nifio-like pattern. The processes associated with ocean dynamics are confined to the equator. The climatological evaporation is also the dominant contributor to the EPW pattern, as suggested in previous studies. However, the effects of some processes are inconsistent with previous studies. For example, changes in the zonal heat advection due to the weakened Walker circulation have a remarkable positive contribution to the EPW pattern, and changes in the shortwave radiation play a negative role in the EPW pattern.

Eastern equatorial Pacific SST seasonal cycle in global climate models: from CMIP5 to CMIP6

The sea surface temperature(SST)seasonal cycle in the eastern equatorial Pacific(EEP)plays an important role in the El Nino–Southern Oscillation(ENSO)phenomenon.However,the reasonable simulation of SST seasonal cycle in the EEP is still a challenge for climate models.In this paper,we evaluated the performance of 17 CMIP6 climate models in simulating the seasonal cycle in the EEP and compared them with 43 CMIP5 climate models.In general,only CESM2 and SAM0-UNICON are able to successfully capture the annual mean SST characteristics,and the results showed that CMIP6 models have no fundamental improvement in the model annual mean bias.For the seasonal cycle,14 out of 17 climate models are able to represent the major characteristics of the observed SST annual evolution.In spring,12 models capture the 1–2 months leading the eastern equatorial Pacific region 1(EP1;5°S–5°N,110°–85°W)against the eastern equatorial Pacific region 2(EP2;5°S–5°N,140°–110°W).In autumn,only two models,GISS-E2-G and SAM0-UNICON,correctly show that the EP1 and EP2 SSTs vary in phase.For the CMIP6 MME SST simulation in EP1,both the cold bias along the equator in the warm phase and the warm bias in the cold phase lead to a weaker annual SST cycle in the CGCMs,which is similar to the CMIP5 results.However,both the seasonal cold bias and warm bias are considerably decreased for CMIP6,which leads the annual SST cycle to more closely reflect the observation.For the CMIP6 MME SST simulation in EP2,the amplitude is similar to the observed value due to the quasi-constant cold bias throughout the year,although the cold bias is clearly improved after August compared with CMIP5 models.Overall,although SAM0-UNICON successfully captured the seasonal cycle characteristics in the EEP and the improvement from CMIP5 to CMIP6 in simulating EEP SST is clear,the fundamental climate models simulated biases still exist.

ROLE OF EQUATORIAL PACIFIC OCEAN SUBSURFACE OCEANIC TEMPERATURE MODE IN ENSO CYCLE

Based on the simple ocean data assimilation(SODA) reanalysis dataset from the University of Maryland and the method of Empirical Orthogonal Functions(EOF),the characteristics of interannual and interdecadal variabilities of the equatorial Pacific subsurface oceanic temperature anomaly(SOTA) are captured.The first and second modes of the equatorial Pacific SOTA in the interannual and interdecadal variations are found respectively and the effect of the second mode on the ENSO cycle is discussed.Results show that the first mode of SOTA's interannual and interdecadal variabilities exhibit a dipole pattern,indicating that the warm and cold temperature anomalies appear simultaneously in the equatorial subsurface Pacific.The second mode shows coherent large-scale temperature anomalies in the equatorial subsurface Pacific,which is a dominant mode in the evolution of ENSO cycle.The temporal series of the second mode has a significant lead correlation with the Ni?o-3.4 index,which can make a precursory prediction signal for ENSO.The function of this prediction factor in SOTA is verified by composite and case analyses.

Dimethyl sulfide in the atmospheric surface layer of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean

This paper reports a case study of atmospheric stability effect on dimethyl sulfide(DMS) concentration in the air. Investigation includes model simulation and field measurements over the Pacific Ocean. DMS concentration in surface sea water and in the air were measured during a research cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti. The diurnal variation of air temperature over the sea surface differed from the diurnal cycle of sea surface temperature because of the high heat capacity of sea water. The diurnal cycle of average DMS concentration in the air was studied in relation to the atmospheric stability parameter and surface heat flux. All these parameters had minima at noon and maxima in the early morning. The correlation coefficient of the air DMS concentration with wind speed (at 15 m high) was 0. 64. The observed concentrations of DMS in the equatorial marine surface layer and their diurnal variability agree well with model simulations. The simulated results indicate that the amplitude of the cycle and the mean concentration of DMS are dependent on the atmospheric stratifications and wind speed.

Water masses in the far western equatorial Pacific during the winters of 2010 and 2012

Conductivity-temperature-depth（CTD）data obtained during the 2010 La Nina winter and the 2012 normal winter,combined with concurrent Argo profiling float data,provide a quasi-synoptic description of the water mass distributions and their variations in the far western equatorial Pacific Ocean.The water mass connection between the western Pacific and the east Indonesian seas is emphasized.Analysis indicates that the North Pacific Tropical Water（NPTW,S〉34.9）carried by the Mindanao Current southward and the South Pacific Tropical Water（SPTW,S〉35.1）from the southern hemisphere meet in the area.Observations suggest that the southward transport of the NPTW is stronger in 2010 than in 2012 due to enhanced advection of the Mindanao Current.The distribution of SPTW,which crosses the equator in the northwest direction and retroflects back to the interior Pacific Ocean,is found to retreat from 4°–5°N in2012 to 2°–3°N in 2010 La Ni？a peak in the 130°E section.A relatively fresh tropical subsurface water is identified in between the NPTW and the SPTW,moving eastward with the North Equatorial Countercurrent into the equatorial Pacific Ocean.However,the salinity maximum of this subsurface fresh water is found to decrease eastward,suggesting that the salinity maximum is generated either by strong diapycnal mixing or by isopycnal mixing of temporally entrained Indonesian sea water into the area.

Redox conditions in sediments and during sedimentation in the Ontong Java Plateau,west equatorial Pacific

Redox-sensitive elements in sediments, such as manganese （Mn）, vanadium （V）, molybdenum （Mo）, and uranium （U）, are promising indicators of past redox conditions during sedimentation and early diagenesis. However, in the Ontong Java Plateau, west equatorial Pacific, there are sparse datasets of redox-sensitive elements in sediment cores. Here, we present a 250 ka record of redox sensitive elements from a 460 cm gravity core at site WP7 （3~56＇S, 156^.E, water depth 1 800 m）, which was recovered from the southwest Ontong Java Plateau during the 1993 cruise of R/V Science I of the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences （IOCAS）. Relative to the Post-Archean Australian Shale （PAAS）, authigenic Mn, cobalt （Co）, nickel （Ni）, Mo, V, U, and cadmium （Cd） were found at constantly low levels except when peaks occurred at several depth intervals. Manganese, Co, Ni, and Mo concentrations were elevated at 25-35 cm due to Mn redox cycling. The core was divided into three distinct sections, the top 0-25 cm being oxic, a suboxic section at 25-35 cm and from 35-460 cm which was anoxic. Differential authigenic enrichments of Co, Ni, Mo, V, U, and Cd at the same depth intervals were observed indicating that the enrichments happened during sedimentation or diagenesis and suffered no post settlement redox changes. Therefore, no significant changes in redox conditions during sedimentation must have happened. The water at depth on the Ontong Java Plateau during past 250 ka must have been well oxygenated, possibly resulted from the more or less continuous presence of oxygen-rich deep water like the modem Antarctic Intermediate Water （AAIW） and Antarctic Circumpolar Water （ACW）; while it＇s slightly less oxygenated in glacial intervals, possibly due to ventilation weakening and/or the surface productivity increase.

Numerical simulation of influence of the anomalies of theCentral-eastern Equatorial Pacific SST and Arctic seaice cover in summer on the atmospheric circulation

A series of numerical experiments have been conducted with a perpetual July, nine-level general circulation spectral model to determine the effect of variation of the Arctic sea ice cover extent and the joint effect of anomalies of both the Arctic sea ice cover and the Central-eastern Equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature on the summer general circulation. Results show that the two factors,anomalously large extent of the Arctic sea ice cover and anomalously warm sea surface temperature over the Central-eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean, play substantially the equal role in the effect on the summer general circulation, and either of them can notably induce the atmospheric anomalies. The main dynamical processes determining the effect of the Arctic sea ice and the equatorial SST anomalies are associated with two leading teleconnection patterns, i. e. the Asia North/American and Eurasian patterns observed in atmosphere. The results presented in this paper again prove that the general circulation is fundamentally motivated by the non-uniform heating between the equator and the pole on the rotating earth.

The Role of the Halted Baroclinic Mode at the Central Equatorial Pacific in El Nifn Event

The role of halted ＂baroclinic modes＂ in the central equatorial Pacific is analyzed. It is found that dominant anomaly signals corresponding to ＂baroclinic modes＂ occur in the upper layer of the equatorial Pacific, in a two-and-a-half layer oceanic model, in assimilated results of a simple OGCM and in the ADCP observation of TAO. A second ＂baroclinic mode＂ is halted in the central equatorial Pacific corresponding to a positive SST anomaly while the first ＂baroclinic mode＂ propagates eastwards in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The role of the halted second ＂baroclinic mode＂ in the central equatorial Pacific is explained by a staged ocean-atmosphere interaction mechanism in the formation of El Nifio： the westerly bursts in boreal winter over the western equatorial Pacific generate the halted second ＂baroclinic mode＂ in the central equatorial Pacific, leading to the increase of heat content and temperature in the upper layer of the central Pacific which induces the shift of convection from over the western equatorial Pacific to the central equatorial Pacific; another wider, westerly anomaly burst is induced over the western region of convection above the central equatorial Pacific and the westerly anomaly burst generates the first ＂baroclinic mode＂ propagating to the eastern equatorial Pacific, resulting in a warm event in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The mechanism presented in this paper reveals that the central equatorial Pacific is a key region in detecting the possibility of ENSO and, by analyzing TAO observation data of ocean currents and temperature in the central equatorial Pacific, in predicting the coming of an El Nino several months ahead.

Spring Cold Bias of SST and Minimal Wind Mixing in the Equatorial Pacific Cold Tongue

The authors investigate the relationship between bias in simulated sea surface temperature （SST） in the equatorial eastern Pacific cold tongue during the boreal spring as simulated by an oceanic general circulation model （OGCM） and minimal wind mixing （MWM） at the surface. The cold bias of simulated SST is the greatest during the boreal spring, at approximately 3℃. A sensi- tivity experiment reducing MWM by one order of magnitude greatly alleviates cold biases, especially in March-April. The decrease in bias is primarily due to weakened vertical mixing, which preserves heat in the uppermost layer and results in warmer simulated SST. The reduction in vertical mixing also leads to a weak westward current in the upper layer, which further contributes to SST warming. These findings imply that there are large uncertainties about simple model parameters such as MWM at the oceanic surface.

Correlations between Sea Surface Temperature in Eastern Equatorial Pacific and Rain Days over China in Summer

Sea-surface temperature (SST) in the eastern, equatorial Pacific and rain days over China in summer are analysed using correlation moments that is proposed by author and principal component analysis(PCA). Occurrences of the strong rain-day anomalies over China are associated with extreme SSTs in some years. Areas significantly affected by the phenomena include North and Northeast China.

Heat Budget of the South-Central Equatorial Pacific in CMIP3 Models

ABSTRACT Using data from 17 coupled models and nine sets of corresponding Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project （AMIP） results, we investigated annual and seasonal variation biases in the upper 50 m of the south-central equatorial Pacific, with a focus on the double-ITCZ bias, and examined the causes for the amplitude biases by using heat budget analysis. The results showed that, in the research region, most of the models simulate SSTs that are higher than or similar to observed. The simulated seasonal phase is close to that observed, but the amplitudes of more than half of the model results are larger than or equal to observations. Heat budget analysis demonstrated that strong shortwave radiation in individual atmospheric models is the main factor that leads to high SST values and that weak southward cold advection is an important mechanism for maintaining a high SST. For seasonal circulation, large surface shortwave radiation amplitudes cause large SST amplitudes.

Dissimilarity among Ocean Reanalyses in Equatorial Pacific Upper-Ocean Heat Content and Its Relationship with ENSO

This study focuses on the temporal variation of dissimilarity in heat content(HC)anomalies in the upper 300 m of ocean(HC300A)in the equatorial Pacific(±10°N)and its response to the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO).The HC300A anomalies are derived from four ocean reanalyses that are commonly used in ENSO studies and are compared using a simple differencing method.The dissimilarity in HC300A is found to vary closely with the magnitude of ENSO(regardless of phase),meaning that it tends to be greater during strong ENSO events.However,the dissimilarity among ocean reanalyses persists after the event decays.This effect is more pronounced after strong events.The persistence of the dissimilarity after ENSO events is a result of a late maturation of the ENSO signal,its persistence,and the interruption of the signal decay due to follow-up ENSO events.The combined effect of these three factors slows down the decay of HC300A in the region and hence results in the slow decay of dissimilarity.It is also found that areas with a significant spread in vertical temperature profiles collocate with the ENSO signal during warm ENSO phases.Thus,differences in subsurface process reconstruction are a significant factor in the dissimilarity among ocean reanalyses during warm ENSO events.

Intraseasonal variability of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and its relationship with ENSO based on Self-Organizing Maps analysis

We investigated the intraseasonal variability of equatorial Pacific subsurface temperature and its relationship with El Nino-Southern Oscillation(ENSO) using Self-Organizing Maps(SOM) analysis.Variation in intraseasonal subsurface temperature is mainly found along the thermocline.The SOM patterns concentrate in basin-wide seesaw or sandwich structures along an east-west axis.Both the seesaw and sandwich SOM patterns oscillate with periods of 55 to 90 days,with the sequence of them showing features of equatorial intraseasonal Kelvin wave,and have marked interannual variations in their occurrence frequencies.Further examination shows that the interannual variability of the SOM patterns is closely related to ENSO;and maxima in composite interannual variability of the SOM patterns are located in the central Pacific during CP El Nino and in the eastern Pacific during EP El Nino.The se results imply that some of the ENSO forcing is manife sted through changes in the occurrence frequency of intraseasonal patterns,in which the change of the intraseasonal Kelvin wave plays an important role.