Repeated observations in the North Pacific subtropical gyre near Hawaii reveal pronounced freshening (--0.15 psu) and cooling (--0.5øC) of the upper thermocline from 1991 through 1997. The freshening appears progressively later on deeper isopycnals consistent with subduction of surface salinity anomalies at higher latitudes and subsequent southward advection. Winter rainfall anomalies in the ce...

A numerical analysis is made on the appearance of oceanic internal solitary waves in a multi-modal setting. This is done for observed profiles of stratification from the Sulu Sea and the Bay of Biscay, in which thermocline motion is dominated by the first and third mode, respectively. The results show that persistent solitary waves occur only in the former case, in accordance with the observati...

stratiRed (vertical gradients of potential temperature, salinity and potential density, averaged horizontally or in time, are zero). The terminology is most precise in the case of a convectively forced boundary layer. Elsewhere, oceanographers use the term loosely to describe the region of the ocean that responds most directly to surface processes. Late in the day, following periods of strong h...

The use of top predators as bio-platforms is a modern approach to understanding how physical changes in the environment may influence their foraging success. This study examined if the presence of thermoclines could be a reliable signal of resource availability for a marine top predator, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). We studied weekly foraging activity of 43 breeding individual penguins...

The shallow overturning circulation of the oceans transports heat from the tropics to the mid-latitudes. This overturning also influences the uptake and storage of anthropogenic carbon (Cant). We demonstrate this by quantifying the relative importance of ocean thermodynamics, circulation and biogeochemistry in a global biochemistry and circulation model. Almost 2/3 of the Cant ocean uptake ente...

The deep ocean is most likely the primary source of the radiocarbon-depleted CO2 released to the atmosphere during the last deglaciation. While there are well-documented millennial scale Δ14C changes during the most recent deglaciation, most marine records lack the resolution needed to identify more rapid ventilation events. Furthermore, potential age model problems with marine Δ14C records may...

[1] A suite of satellite and in-situ observations are used to study ocean-atmospheric conditions over the tropical Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) during 2006–2007 when ElNino and an IndianOcean dipole took place simultaneously. Argo profiles reveal a pronounced up-westward propagation of subsurface warming in the southern tropical Indian Ocean associated with Rossby waves traveling on the slopin...

An investigation into density and velocity fluctuations in the oceanic thermocline is presented. Two kinds of numerical simulation are reported. In the first, an attempt is made to capture the transition from breaking internal waves to the small-scale turbulence they generate. The model used for this is based on a continual forcing of a large-scale standing internal-wave. Evidence is presented ...

[1] Using an ocean general circulation model, we find that the vertical profile of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) transport is important in regulating the stratification and surface heat fluxes of the Indian Ocean. With the same total ITF transport, a thermocline-intensified ITF, relative to a surface-intensified ITF, not only cools the surface layer of the Indian Ocean while warming the Indi...