lee_etal_2010.pdf (2.43 MB)
Record warming in the South Pacific and western Antarctica associated with the strong central‐Pacific El Niño in 2009–10
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 14:38 authored by Lee, T, William HobbsWilliam Hobbs, Willis, JK, Halkides, D, Fukumori, I, Armstrong, EM, Hayashi, AK, Liu, WT, Patzert, W, Wang, OSatellite data for the past three decades reveal a recordhigh sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly within a large mid‐latitude region of the south‐central Pacific (SCP) during the mature phase of the 2009–10 El Niño, with a peak magnitude that is 5 times the standard deviation of local SST anomaly and is warmer than the concurrent tropical‐ Pacific SST anomaly. The SCP oceanic warming was confined to the upper 50 meters and is associated with an extreme and persistent anticyclone. Wind changes associated with the anticyclone caused the oceanic warming with surface heat flux and ocean processes playing equally important roles. The anticyclone diverted circumpolar westerlies and warm air towards Antarctica. Austral‐summer SST in the Bellingshausen Sea also reached a three‐decade high. The extreme atmospheric and oceanic anomalies in the South Pacific may have been fueled by the 2009–10 El Niño because of its record‐high SST anomaly in the centralequatorial Pacific.
History
Publication title
Geophysical Research LettersVolume
37Issue
19Article number
L19704Number
L19704Pagination
1-6ISSN
0094-8276Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Amer Geophysical UnionPlace of publication
2000 Florida Ave Nw, Washington, USA, Dc, 20009Rights statement
Copyright 2010 American Geophysical UnionRepository Status
- Open