Enhanced warming over the global subtropical western boundary currents
Enhanced warming over the global subtropical western boundary currents
Date
2011-11
Authors
Wu, Lixin
Cai, Wenju
Zhang, Liping
Nakamura, Hisashi
Timmermann, Axel
Joyce, Terrence M.
McPhaden, Michael J.
Alexander, Michael A.
Qiu, Bo
Visbeck, Martin
Chang, Ping
Giese, Benjamin
Cai, Wenju
Zhang, Liping
Nakamura, Hisashi
Timmermann, Axel
Joyce, Terrence M.
McPhaden, Michael J.
Alexander, Michael A.
Qiu, Bo
Visbeck, Martin
Chang, Ping
Giese, Benjamin
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Abstract
Subtropical western boundary currents are warm, fast flowing currents that
form on the western side of ocean basins. They carry warm tropical water to the
mid-latitudes and vent large amounts of heat and moisture to the atmosphere
along their paths, affecting atmospheric jet streams and mid-latitude storms, as
well as ocean carbon uptake. The possibility that these highly energetic and
nonlinear currents might change under greenhouse gas forcing has raised
significant concerns, but detecting such changes is challenging owing to limited
observations. Here, using reconstructed sea surface temperature datasets and
newly developed century-long ocean and atmosphere reanalysis products, we
find that the post-1900 surface ocean warming rate over the path of these
currents is two to three times faster than the global mean surface ocean warming
rate. The accelerated warming is associated with a synchronous poleward shift
and/or intensification of global subtropical western boundary currents in
conjunction with a systematic change in winds over both hemispheres. This enhanced warming may reduce ocean's ability to absorb anthropogenic carbon
dioxide over these regions. However, uncertainties in detection and attribution of
these warming trends remain, pointing to a need for a long-term monitoring
network of the global western boundary currents and their extensions.
Description
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Climate Change 2 (2012): 161-166, doi:10.1038/nclimate1353.