A simulation is conducted with a realistic ocean general circulation model to investigate the three dimensional spreading of a passive tracer prescribed at the sea surface with the same distribution as the interdecadal sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies observed in the North Pacific. The tracers reaching the equator have the same sign as the major oval-shaped SST anomaly pattern in the cen...

[1] Adjoint sensitivities of CFC-11 concentrations and CFC-11/CFC-12 ratio ages in a North Atlantic general circulation model are analyzed. These sensitivities are compared with those of spiciness, T (b/a) S, where a, b are the thermal and haline expansion coefficients, respectively. High-sensitivity fields are candidates for providing the most powerful constraints in the corresponding inverse ...

Most coupled general circulation models (GCMs) perform poorly in the tropical Atlantic in terms of climatological seasonal cycle and interannual variability. The reasons for this poor performance are investigated in a suite of sensitivity experiments with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) coupled GCM. The experiments show that a significant portion of the equatorial SST biases in...

The wind work on oceanic near-inertial motions is suggested to play an important role in furnishing the diapycnal mixing in the deep ocean which affects the uptake of heat and carbon by the ocean as well as climate changes. However, it remains a puzzle where and through which route the near-inertial energy penetrates into the deep ocean. Using the measurements collected in the Kuroshio extensio...

An exponential solution to the thermocline equations is scaled and calibrated for the intermediate circulation in middle latitudes of the open ocean in accordance with the scaling and results of the more complete numerical models of Bryan and Cox. Evaluation of the average potential vorticity for a number of stations is a main feature of the calibration method. The results of tests on the calib...

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...

Globally, reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) are in decline and particularly vulnerable to exploitation disturbance at aggregation sites. Here, passive acoustic telemetry a suite of advanced oceanographic technologies were used for the first time investigate fine-scale (5-min) influence drivers on visitation patterns 19 tagged M. alfredi feeding site Egmont Atoll Chagos Archipelago. Boosted regre...

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 ...