Journal
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
Volume 34, Issue 7, Pages 2567-2589Publisher
AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0476.1
Keywords
North Atlantic Ocean; North Pacific Ocean; Atmosphere-ocean interaction; Climate variability; Interannual variability; Interdecadal variability; Oceanic variability
Categories
Funding
- NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship [80NSSC18K1345]
- NSF Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics program
- NSF Climate and LargeScale Dynamics program
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This study quantifies the contributions of ocean dynamical processes to mixed layer temperature variability on global scales, showcasing the importance of ocean dynamics in specific regions and time scales. The findings emphasize the critical need for improved and continuous observations of the ocean mixed layer to further understand its role. Results suggest that as time scales increase, the impact of ocean dynamics on mixed layer temperature variability decreases.
Understanding the role of the ocean in climate variability requires first understanding the role of ocean dynamics in the ocean mixed layer and thus sea surface temperature variability. However, key aspects of the spatially and temporally varying contributions of ocean dynamics to such variability remain unclear. Here, the authors quantify the contributions of ocean dynamical processes to mixed layer temperature variability on monthly to multiannual time scales across the globe. To do so, they use two complementary but distinct methods: 1) a method in which ocean heat transport is estimated directly from a state-of-the-art ocean state estimate spanning 1992-2015 and 2) a method in which it is estimated indirectly from observations between 1980-2017 and the energy budget of the mixed layer. The results extend previous studies by providing quantitative estimates of the role of ocean dynamics in mixed layer temperature variability throughout the globe, across a range of time scales, in a range of available measurements, and using two different methods. Consistent with previous studies, both methods indicate that the ocean-dynamical contribution to mixed layer temperature variance is largest over western boundary currents, their eastward extensions, and regions of equatorial upwelling. In contrast to previous studies, the results suggest that ocean dynamics reduce the variance of Northern Hemisphere mixed layer temperatures on time scales longer than a few years. Hence, in the global mean, the fractional contribution of ocean dynamics to mixed layer temperature variability decreases at increasingly low frequencies. Differences in the magnitude of the ocean dynamical contribution based on the two methods highlight the critical need for improved and continuous observations of the ocean mixed layer.
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