The role of the penetration length scale of shortwave radiation into the surface ocean and its impact on tropical Pacific variability is investigated with a fully coupled ocean, atmosphere, land and ice model. Previous work has shown that removal of all ocean color results in a system that tends strongly towards an El Niño state. Results from a suite of surface chlorophyll perturbation experime...

This analysis aims to establish whether the ‘regime shifts’ documented for the north Pacific Ocean are seen in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and are relevant to recruitment variation for tropical tunas. Quantitative indicators of oceanographic state are derived by multivariate analysis of physical and biological variables output from an ocean general circulation and biogeochemica...

The winter response of the coupled atmosphere–ocean mixed layer system to anomalous geostrophic ocean heat flux convergence in the Kuroshio Extension is investigated by means of experiments with an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to an entraining ocean mixed layer model in the extra-tropics. The direct response consists of positive SST anomalies along the Kuroshio Extension and a ...

Observational data from the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Program were used to calculate the upper ocean heat content (OHC) anomaly. The thickness of the upper layer is taken as 300 m for the Pacific/Atlantic Ocean and 150 m for the Indian Ocean since the Indian Ocean has shallower thermoclines. First, the optimal spectral decomposition scheme was used to build up monthly synoptic tem...

Net surface shortwave fluxes (Qsw) computed from National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Langley satellite data are compared with Qsw from reanalyses of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The mean and variability of Qsw is examined for the period 1983–91, with a focus on the tropical and summer hemisph...

Pacific herring show an abrupt genetic discontinuity in the central North Pacific that represents secondary contact between refuge populations previously isolated during Pleistocene glaciations. Paradoxically, high levels of gene flow produce genetic homogeneity among ocean-type populations within each group. Here, we surveyed variability in mtDNA control-region sequences (463 bp) and nine micr...

Annual net community production (ANCP) in the subtropical Pacific Ocean was determined by using annual oxygen measurements from Argo profiling floats with an upper water column oxygen mass balance model. ANCP was determined to be from 2.0 to 2.4 mol C m 2 yr 1 in the western subtropical North Pacific, 2.4 mol C m 2 yr 1 in the eastern subtropical North Pacific, and near zero in the subtropical ...

We investigate variability in the surface ocean carbonate ion concentration ([CO 3 ]) on the basis of a long control simulation with an Earth System Model. The simulation is run with a prescribed, pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 concentration for 1000 years, permitting investigation of natural [CO 3 ] variability on interannual to multi-decadal timescales. We find high interannual variability in...

A high-resolution, off-line, ocean general circulation model, incorporating a realistic parameterisation of mixed layer convection is used to diagnose pathways and timescales of Southern Hemisphere Intermediate, Mode and thermocline water ventilation. Simulated and observed CFC-11 are in reasonably good agreement, demonstrating the model’s skill in representing realistic ventilation. Regional p...