Temperature trends and interannual variability in the Strait of Georgia,British Columbia |
| |
| Authors: | Diane Masson Patrick F Cummins |
| |
| Institution: | Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, P.O. Box 6000, 9860 W. Saanich Rd., Sidney, BC, Canada V8L 4B2 |
| |
| Abstract: | A continuous 36 year long record of semi-monthly temperature profiles from the central Strait of Georgia, British Columbia is used to examine low frequency variability and trends through the water column. Decomposition of temperature anomalies into empirical orthogonal functions shows that the dominant mode accounts for 78% of the variance, while the principal component associated with this mode (PC1) is dominated by fluctuations on interannual time scales. To relate the variability within the Strait to that occurring over the northeast Pacific, PC1 is compared with anomalies in local air temperature, sea surface temperatures off the west coast of Vancouver Island, and upper ocean temperatures along Line-P. These comparisons suggest that much of the interannual variability observed in the Strait of Georgia occurs in response to large-scale atmospheric forcing over the northeast Pacific. However, following tropical El Niño events there are significant anomalies associated with processes occurring along the coastal oceanic wave guide. The strongest event in the entire record, the remarkable negative temperature anomaly of winter 1978/1979, appears to be associated with a deep water intrusion that was forced locally. |
| |
| Keywords: | Temperature anomalies Variability Climatic changes Estuarine circulation El Niñ o phenomena Northeast Pacific |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
