Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49927-y
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Funding
- NSF [OCE 132022]
- DOE-RGMA grant
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The Kuroshio Extension (KE) exhibits prominent decadal fluctuations that enhance the low-frequency variability of North Pacific climate. Using available observations, we show evidence that a preferred decadal timescale in the KE emerges from the interaction between KE and the central tropical Pacific via Meridional Modes. Specifically, we show that changes in the KE states apply a persistent downstream atmospheric response (e.g. wind stress curl, 0-12 months timescales) that projects on the atmospheric forcing of the Pacific Meridional Modes (PMM) over 9 months timescales. Subsequently, the PMM energizes the central tropical Pacific El Nirio Southern Oscillation (CP-ENSO) and its atmospheric teleconnections back to the Northern Hemisphere (1-3 months timescale), which in turn excites oceanic Rossby waves in the central/eastern North Pacific that propagate westward changing the KE (similar to 3 years timescales). Consistent with this hypothesis, the cross-correlation function between the KE and the PMM/CP-ENSO indices exhibits a significant sinusoidal shape corresponding to a preferred spectral power at decadal timescales (similar to 10 years). This dynamics pathway (KE -> PMM/CP-ENSO -> KE) may provide a new mechanistic basis to explain the preferred decadal-timescale of the North Pacific and enhance decadal predictability of Pacific climate.
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