Changes in Tropical Pacific Thermocline Depth and Their Relationship to ENSO after 1999

North Pacific Thermocline Variations on ENSO Timescales

The North Pacific thermocline (250 to 400 m) is studied using XBT observations acquired during the 1970s and 1980s. Interannual variations (3–5 yr timescales) in thermocline temperature, with O(0.18C) amplitude at 400 m, are found to exhibit westward propagation throughout the extratropical North Pacific up to 458N. Southward of 308N, the features propagate intact across the basin from the east...

Rossby Waves in the Tropical North Pacific and Their Role in Decadal Thermocline Variability

A band of enhanced thermocline variability at 108–158N in the Pacific found in nature also occurs in an ocean general circulation model forced with observed fluxes of momentum, heat, and freshwater over the period 1958– 97. The variability in the model is primarily associated with long baroclinic Rossby waves characterized by periods in the decadal range (7–10 yr). The waves are forced by westw...

Precursors of ENSO beyond the tropical Pacific

Tropical Pacific surface longwave radiation during ENSO

ENSO surface longwave radiation forcing over the tropical Pacific K. G. Pavlakis, D. Hatzidimitriou, E. Drakakis, C. Matsoukas, A. Fotiadi, N. Hatzianastassiou, and I. Vardavas Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Heraklion, Crete, Greece Department of General Applied Science, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece Department of Physics, University of Crete, Crete, Greec...

Hemispheric Asymmetry in the Ventilated Thermocline of the Tropical Pacific

To understand sources of variability in the eastern equatorial Pacific, a region integral to modulating global temperatures, the waters upwelling from the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) are characterized. Past work is updated using temperature and salinity measurements from the Argo array and current measurements from Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) buoys. A larger hemispheric asymmetry is found...