The effects of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) on ENSO dynamics are studied in a coupled climate model by comparing two simulations, one with an open ITF and the other with a closed ITF. Closing the ITF results in an El Niño–like climate state in the Pacific, which is characterized by weakened trade winds, a flatter equatorial thermocline, and weaker equatorial upwelling. A weakened South Equa...

CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) data collected in the coastal waters of Rudsar in summer 2008 were analyzed to identify the isothermal layers, thermocline depth and vertical structure of seawater properties. During the survey, probe was released into the seawater column down to 117 m depth. Results showed a vertical variation of temperature between 29°C at the sea surface and less tha...

Vertical mixing is an important factor in determining the temperature, sharpness and depth of the equatorial Pacific thermocline, which are critical to the development of El Ninõ and Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Yet, properties, dynamical causes and large-scale impacts of vertical mixing in the thermocline are much less understood than that nearer the surface. Here, based on Argo float and the ...

A positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) tends to have stronger cold sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) over the eastern Indian Ocean with greater impacts than warm SSTAs that occur during its negative phase. Two feedbacks have been suggested as the cause of positive IOD skewness, a positive Bjerknes feedback and a negative SST-cloud-radiation (SCR) feedback, but their relative importance is...

In the late twentieth century, the sub-thermocline waters of the southern tropical and subtropical Indian Ocean experienced a sharp cooling. This cooling has been previously attributed to an anthropogenic aerosol-induced strengthening of the global ocean conveyor, which transfers heat from the subtropical gyre latitudes toward the North Atlantic. From the mid-1990s the sub-thermocline southern ...

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...

The coupling on decadal time scales of the midlatitude and tropical Pacific via an oceanic 'bridge' in the thermocline is investigated using ocean general circulation model hindcasts and a coupled ocean atmosphere model. Results indicate that in the tropics decadal anomalies of isopycnal depth are forced by Ekman pumping and are largely independent of the arrival of subducted anomalies in the t...

To extend the linear stochastically forced paradigm of tropical sea surface temperature (SST) variability to the subsurface ocean, a linear inverse model (LIM) is constructed from the simultaneous and 3-month lag covariances of observed 3-month running mean anomalies of SST, thermocline depth, and zonal wind stress. This LIM is then used to identify the empirically-determined linear dynamics wi...

Formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) represents a transfer of upper layer water to abyssal depths at a rate of 15 to 20 x 10 6 m3/s. NADW spreads throughout the Atlantic Ocean and is exported to the Indian and Pacific Oceans by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and deep western boundary currents. Naturally, there must be a compensating flow of upper layer water toward the northern Nort...