Coupled patterns between the surface chlorophyll-a and the physical factors in the Pacific Ocean

The ocean bio-physical co-variability and its response to climate change have received increasing attention with the accumulation of satellite ocean data sets. Most of the present studies focus either on regional ocean or short time span, lacking a systemetic study of the co-variability of bio-physical parameters in the Pacific. Based on the satellite datasets and re-analyzed datasets from 1997 to 2012, the co-variability and coupled patterns between the surface chlorophyll-a (CHL) and the physical factors, i.e. sea surface temperature (SST), sea level anomaly (SLA) and sea winds in the Pacific Ocean were studied through the canonical correlation analysis. We found that the bio-physical coupled patterns in the Pacific Ocean were corresponding to the Pacific climate variability patterns, i.e. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO).