Subsurface Water Masses in the Central North Pacific Transition Region: The Repeat Section along the 18° Meridian |
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| Authors: | Toshio Suga Kazunori Motoki Kimio Hanawa |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan |
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| Abstract: | A repeat hydrographic section has been maintained over two decades along the 180° meridian across the subarctic-subtropical
transition region. The section is naturally divided into at least three distinct zones. In the Subarctic Zone north of 46°N,
the permanent halocline dominates the density stratification, supporting a subsurface temperature minimum (STM). The Subarctic
Frontal Zone (SFZ) between 42°–46°N is the region where the subarctic halocline outcrops. To the south is the Subtropical
Zone, where the permanent thermocline dominates the density stratification, containing a pycnostad of North Pacific Central
Mode Water (CMW). The STM water colder than 4°C in the Subarctic Zone is originated in the winter mixed layer of the Bering
Sea. The temporal variation of its core temperature lags 12–16 months behind the variations of both the winter sea surface
temperature (SST) and the summer STM temperature in the Bering Sea, suggesting that the thermal anomalies imposed on the STM
water by wintertime air-sea interaction in the Bering Sea spread over the western subarctic gyre, reaching the 180° meridian
within a year or so. The CMW in this section originates in the winter mixed layer near the northern edge of the Subtropical
Zone between 160°E and 180°. The CMW properties changed abruptly from 1988 to 1989; its temperature and salinity increased
and its potential density decreased. It is argued that these changes were caused by the climate regime shift in 1988/1989
characterized by weakening of the Aleutian Low and the westerlies and increase in the SST in the subarctic-subtropical transition
region.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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| Keywords: | Subsurface temperature minimum North Pacific Central Mode Water dichothermal water western subarctic gyre climate regime shift |
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