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Historical changes in wind-driven ocean circulation drive pattern of Pacific warming

Author

Listed:
  • Shuo Fu

    (Ocean University of China
    Duke University)

  • Shineng Hu

    (Duke University)

  • Xiao-Tong Zheng

    (Ocean University of China
    Laoshan Laboratory)

  • Kay McMonigal

    (North Carolina State University
    University of Alaska Fairbanks)

  • Sarah Larson

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Yiqun Tian

    (Duke University)

Abstract

The tropical Pacific warming pattern since the 1950s exhibits two warming centers in the western Pacific (WP) and eastern Pacific (EP), encompassing an equatorial central Pacific (CP) cooling and a hemispheric asymmetry in the subtropical EP. The underlying mechanisms of this warming pattern remain debated. Here, we conduct ocean heat decompositions of two coupled model large ensembles to unfold the role of wind-driven ocean circulation. When wind changes are suppressed, historical radiative forcing induces a subtropical northeastern Pacific warming, thus causing a hemispheric asymmetry that extends toward the tropical WP. The tropical EP warming is instead induced by the cross-equatorial winds associated with the hemispheric asymmetry, and its driving mechanism is southward warm Ekman advection due to the off-equatorial westerly wind anomalies around 5°N, not vertical thermocline adjustment. Climate models fail to capture the observed CP cooling, suggesting an urgent need to better simulate equatorial oceanic processes and thermal structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuo Fu & Shineng Hu & Xiao-Tong Zheng & Kay McMonigal & Sarah Larson & Yiqun Tian, 2024. "Historical changes in wind-driven ocean circulation drive pattern of Pacific warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-45677-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45677-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Masahiro Watanabe & Jean-Louis Dufresne & Yu Kosaka & Thorsten Mauritsen & Hiroaki Tatebe, 2021. "Enhanced warming constrained by past trends in equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature gradient," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 33-37, January.
    2. Ingo Richter, 2015. "Climate model biases in the eastern tropical oceans: causes, impacts and ways forward," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(3), pages 345-358, May.
    3. Yiqun Tian & Shineng Hu & Clara Deser, 2023. "Critical role of biomass burning aerosols in enhanced historical Indian Ocean warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
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