Spatiotemporal analysis of tropical Pacific barrier layer thickness

Abstract

Abstract: Based on nine years (2000-2008) of gridded Argo(G-Argo) temperature and salinity data from China Argo Real-time Data Center,the climatological distribution and low-frequency variability of the barrierlayer thickness(BLT) of the tropical Pacific Ocean was analyzed. The climatological mean BLT distribution ischaracterized by relatively large values in the western Pacific warm pool,and three latitudinal bands thatextends from the warm pool to 120°w,centered at approximately 15°N,5°N,12S,respectively. The leadingEOF modes indicate that the low-frequency variability of the tropical Pacific BLT is dominated by seasonal andinterannual signals. For the seasonal time scale,the most pronounced mode is an antiphase BLT pattern atthe latitudinal bands along 15°N and 12'S,with the largest (smallest) thickness in winter (summer) at therespective hemisphere.For the interannual time scale,there are two important modes of BLT variability,onelocated near the eastern boundary of the warm pool with a strong correlation to ENSO, and the other centeredat the middle of the warm pool,probably related to TBO.

Key words: barrier layer thickness, G-Argo, EOF

CLC Number:

P731

JIANG Liang-hong, CHEN Da-ke. Spatiotemporal analysis of tropical Pacific barrier layer thickness[J]. Journal of Marine Sciences, 2012, 30(2): 14-20.

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