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A preliminary study on an upper ocean heat and salt content of the western Pacific warm pool region

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Abstract

On the basis of Argo profile data of the temperature and salinity from January 2001 to July 2014, the spatial distributions of an upper ocean heat content (OHC) and ocean salt content (OSC) of the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP) region and their seasonal and interannual variations are studied by a cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function (CSEOF) decomposition, a maximum entropy spectral analysis, and a correlation analysis. Probable reasons for variations are discussed. The results show the following. (1) The OHC variations in the subsurface layer of the WPWP are much greater than those in the surface layer. On the contrary, the OSC variations are mainly in the surface layer, while the subsurface layer varies little. (2) Compared with the OSC, the OHC of the WPWP region is more affected by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. The CSEOF analysis shows that the OHC pattern in mode 1 has strong interannual oscillation, with eastern and western parts opposite in phase. The distribution of the OSC has a positive-negative-positive tripole pattern. Time series analysis shows that the OHC has three phase adjustments with the occurrence of ENSO events after 2007, while the OSC only had one such adjustment during the same period. Further analysis indicates that the OHC variations are mainly caused by ENSO events, local winds, and zonal currents, whereas the OSC variations are caused by much more complex reasons. Two of these, the zonal current and a freshwater flux, have a positive feedback on the OSC change in the WPWP region.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to those who generously provided data: the Japan Marine-earth Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) for the MOAA GPV Argo data, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the OSCAR data, the CMAP data and the Niño3.4 index. Besides, we thank the Computing Center of the State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics for calculation support (SOED-HPCC). We thank Steven Hunter from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China, for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Xiaoxin Yang, Xiaofen Wu & Zenghong Liu

  2. Dalian Naval Academy, People’s Libration Army, Dalian, 116000, China

    Xiaoxin Yang

  3. College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Chunxin Yuan

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  1. Xiaoxin Yang
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Correspondence to Xiaofen Wu.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41406022 and 41606003; the Scientific Research Fund of the Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration of China under contract Nos JG1812 and JG1709; the Special Program for the National Basic Research of China under contract No. 2012FY112300.

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Yang, X., Wu, X., Liu, Z. et al. A preliminary study on an upper ocean heat and salt content of the western Pacific warm pool region. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 38, 60–71 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-019-1399-1

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