Climate models consistently project a substantial decrease in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) in response to enhanced greenhouse warming. On interannual timescales ITF changes are largely related to tropical Pacific wind variability. However, on the multidecadal timescales investigated here we demonstrate that regional winds and associated changes in the upper ocean circulation cannot explain ...

In this study, we apply ocean energetics as a diagnostic tool to investigate the impact of westerly wind bursts (WWBs) on the evolution, diversity, and predictability of El Niño events. Following Fedorov et al. (2014), we add an observed WWB to simulations within a comprehensive coupled model and explore changes in the available potential energy (APE) of the tropical Pacific basin. We find that...

This chapter examines how Pacific Island countries could best address this challenge in face of current trends. The chapter is divided into five sections, addressing the most pressing issues in ocean management. Section A describes the nature of the challenges and opportunities the ocean presents. Section B outlines a strategy for managing coastal areas in the Pacific. Section C focuses on the ...

The Southern Oscillation (SO) is usually described as the atmospheric component of the dynamically coupled El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The contention in this work, however, is that dynamical coupling is not required to produce the SO. Simulations with atmospheric general circulation models that have varying degrees of coupling to the ocean are used to show that the SO emerges as a ...

Releases of hatchery-reared anadromous salmon into the North Pacific Ocean are currently estimated between 5 and 6 billion juveniles per year. Wild spawning salmon may produce an additional 4 to 5 times this number of juveniles. With as many as 25 billion juvenile Pacific salmon annually entering the ocean and currently producing over 1. 0 million mt of returning adults, salmon survival and pro...

12 The impact of Indo-Pacific climate feedback on the dynamics of El Niño Southern Oscil13 lation (ENSO) is investigated using an ensemble set of Indian Ocean decoupling experiments 14 (DCPL), utilising a millennial integration of a coupled climate model. It is found that elim15 inating air-sea interactions over the Indian Ocean results in stronger ENSO variability with 16 various degrees of am...

The recent discovery of two new species of kiwaid squat lobsters on hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean and in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean has prompted a re-analysis of Kiwaid biogeographical history. Using a larger alignment with more fossil calibrated nodes than previously, we consider the precise relationship between Kiwaidae, Chirostylidae and Eumunididae within Chirostyloi...

The net heat flux into the northern Indian Ocean is between 75 and 100 W m22 during the boreal spring and early summer but only 10–20 W m22 in the western Pacific during the entire year. The differences in the net surface heat fluxes arise from the radiation shielding by deep convective clouds over the western Pacific and the near absence of clouds over the northern Indian Ocean during spring. ...

Analysis of multiple climate simulations shows much of the midlatitude Pacific decadal variability to be composed of two simultaneously occurring elements: One is a stochastically driven, passive ocean response to the atmosphere while the other is oscillatory and represents a coupled mode of the ocean-atmosphere system. ENSO processes are not required to explain the origins of the decadal varia...

A new species of anglerfish, Chaunax nudiventer, is described on the basis of 35 specimens from the western South Pacific Ocean. It is characterized by large spots on the dorsal surface; a largely naked area on abdomen; a relatively short head and long tail, both reflected in the elongated body; slender and simple spines on body surface; numerous broad flaps on lateral side of body; and higher ...