An active role of extratropical sea surface temperature anomalies in determining anomalous turbulent heat flux

[1] Temporal and spatial structures of turbulent latent and sensible heat flux anomalies are examined in relation to dominant patterns of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) observed over the North Pacific. Relative importance among observed anomalies in SST, surface air temperature, and wind speed in determining the anomalous turbulent heat fluxes is assessed through linearizing the observed flux anomalies. Over the central basin of the North Pacific, changes in the atmospheric variables, including air temperature and wind speed, are primarily responsible for the generation of local SST variations by changing turbulent heat flux, which supports a conventional view of extratropical air-sea interaction. In the region where ocean dynamics is very important in forming SSTAs, in contrast, SSTAs that have been formed in early winter play the primary role in determining mid- and late-winter turbulent heat flux anomalies, indicative of the SST forcing upon the overlying atmosphere. Specifically, both decadal scale SSTAs in the western Pacific subarctic frontal zone and El Nino related SSTAs south of Japan are found to be engaged actively in such forcing on the atmosphere. The atmospheric response to this forcing appears to include the anomalous storm track activity. The observed atmospheric anomalies, which may be, in part, forced by the preexisting SSTAs in those two regions, act to force SSTAs in other portions of the basin, leading to the time evolution of SSTAs as observed in the course of the winter season.

[1]  Russ E. Davis,et al.  Predictability of Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Level Pressure Anomalies over the North Pacific Ocean , 1976 .

[2]  J. Wallace,et al.  Teleconnections in the Geopotential Height Field during the Northern Hemisphere Winter , 1981 .

[3]  Ngar-Cheung Lau,et al.  A Modeling Study of the Relative Roles of Tropical and Extratropical SST Anomalies in the Variability of the Global Atmosphere-Ocean System , 1994 .

[4]  Masami Nonaka,et al.  Covariations of Sea Surface Temperature and Wind over the Kuroshio and Its Extension: Evidence for Ocean-to-Atmosphere Feedback(. , 2003 .

[5]  B. Qiu.  The Kuroshio Extension System: Its Large-Scale Variability and Role in the Midlatitude Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction , 2002 .

[6]  N. Lau,et al.  Impact of ENSO on SST Variability in the North Pacific and North Atlantic: Seasonal Dependence and Role of Extratropical Sea–Air Coupling , 2001 .

[7]  D. Pierce,et al.  Anatomy of North Pacific Decadal Variability , 2002 .

[8]  T. Yamagata,et al.  Decadal Climate Variability in the North Pacific during the Recent Decades , 1997 .

[9]  C. Frankignoul,et al.  The surface heat flux feedback. Part I: estimates from observations in the Atlantic and the North Pacific , 2002 .

[10]  Naomi Naik,et al.  Wind-Driven Shifts in the Latitude of the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension and Generation of SST Anomalies on Decadal Timescales* , 2001 .

[11]  T. Nitta,et al.  Recent Warming of Tropical Sea Surface Temperature and Its Relationship to the Northern Hemisphere Circulation , 1989 .

[12]  Miriam Steinitz Kannan.  Beyond El Niño: Decadal and Interdecadal Climate Variability , 2001 .

[13]  R. Kleeman,et al.  A Simple Atmospheric Model of Surface Heat Flux for Use in Ocean Modeling Studies , 1995 .

[14]  D. Battisti,et al.  The Basic Effects of Atmosphere–Ocean Thermal Coupling on Midlatitude Variability* , 1998 .

[15]  C. Frankignoul.  Sea surface temperature anomalies, planetary waves, and air‐sea feedback in the middle latitudes , 1985 .

[16]  Bomin Sun,et al.  Comparisons of Surface Meteorology and Turbulent Heat Fluxes over the Atlantic: NWP Model Analyses versus Moored Buoy Observations* , 2003 .

[17]  S. Xie,et al.  Estimates of Surface and Subsurface Forcing for Decadal Sea Surface Temperature Variability in the Mid-Latitude North Pacific , 2002 .

[18]  H. Nakamura,et al.  Decadal changes in the North Pacific oceanic frontal zones as revealed in ship and satellite observations , 2003 .

[19]  J. Wallace,et al.  ENSO-like Interdecadal Variability: 1900–93 , 1997 .

[20]  J. Whitaker,et al.  Mechanisms Determining the Atmospheric Response to Midlatitude SST Anomalies , 1999 .

[21]  K. Hanawa,et al.  Relationships between sea surface temperature, the atmospheric circulation and air-sea fluxes on multiple time scales , 1997 .

[22]  B. Qiu,et al.  Upper-Ocean Heat Balance in the Kuroshio Extension Region , 1993 .

[23]  T. Yamagata,et al.  Recent Decadal SST Variability in the Northwestern Pacific and Associated Atmospheric Anomalies , 1999 .

[24]  R. Sutton,et al.  Atmospheric GCM Response to Extratropical SST Anomalies: Synthesis and Evaluation* , 2002 .

[25]  A. Miller,et al.  Predicting Western North Pacific Ocean Climate , 2001 .

[26]  P. Guest,et al.  A comparison of surface layer and surface turbulent flux observations over the Labrador Sea with ECMWF analyses and NCEP reanalyses , 2000 .

[27]  Jeffrey L. Anderson,et al.  The Role of High- and Low-Frequency Dynamics in Blocking Formation , 1997 .

[28]  J. Kondo,et al.  Air-sea bulk transfer coefficients in diabatic conditions , 1975 .

[29]  M. Kimoto,et al.  Atmosphere‐ocean thermal coupling in the North Atlantic: A positive feedback , 2000 .

[30]  Ian A. Renfrew,et al.  An Assessment of the Surface Turbulent Heat Fluxes from the NCEP–NCAR Reanalysis over the Western Boundary Currents , 2002 .

[31]  Bin Wang,et al.  Global patterns of decadal-scale variability observed in sea surface temperature and lower-tropospheric circulation fields , 2001 .

[32]  S. Xie,et al.  Heat Flux and Cloud Cover over the Atlantic Ocean , 2022 .

[33]  R. Jacob,et al.  Search for the origins of Pacific decadal climate variability , 2002 .

[34]  H. Nakamura.  Midwinter Suppression of Baroclinic Wave Activity in the Pacific , 1992 .

[35]  David M. Legler,et al.  Quantifying uncertainties in NCEP reanalyses using high-quality research vessel observations , 2001 .

[36]  D. Mayer,et al.  Frequency Response Properties of Forced Climatic SST Anomaly Variability in the North Atlantic , 1996 .

[37]  B. Qiu.  Interannual Variability of the Kuroshio Extension System and Its Impact on the Wintertime SST Field , 2000 .

[38]  Static relationship between anomalies of SSTs and air-sea heat fluxes in the North Pacific , 1995 .

[39]  W. Timothy Liu,et al.  Bathymetric effect on the winter sea surface temperature and climate of the Yellow and East China Seas , 2002 .

[40]  S. Xie,et al.  Causes of equatorial asymmetry in sea surface temperature over the eastern Pacific , 1997 .

[41]  C. Deser,et al.  On the Relationship between Tropical and North Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Variations , 1995 .

[42]  Ryuichi Kawamura,et al.  A rotated EOF analysis of global sea surface temperature variability with interannual and interdecadal scales , 1994 .

[43]  H. Nakamura,et al.  A Formulation of a Phase-Independent Wave-Activity Flux for Stationary and Migratory Quasigeostrophic Eddies on a Zonally Varying Basic Flow , 2001 .

[44]  Ralph J. Slutz,et al.  A Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set , 1987 .

[45]  H. Nakamura,et al.  Interannual and Decadal Modulations Recently Observed in the Pacific Storm Track Activity and East Asian Winter Monsoon , 2002 .

[46]  S. Xie,et al.  Interdecadal Thermocline Variability in the North Pacific for 1958–97: A GCM Simulation* , 2000 .

[47]  N. Lau,et al.  The Role of the “Atmospheric Bridge” in Linking Tropical Pacific ENSO Events to Extratropical SST Anomalies , 1996 .

[48]  K. Hanawa,et al.  Analysis of SST anomalies in the North Pacific and their relation to 500 mp height anomalies over the Northern Hemisphere during 1969-1979 , 1987 .