Wintertime sea surface temperature variability modulated by Arctic Oscillation in the northwestern part of the East/Japan Sea and its relationship with marine heatwaves

Autor: Se-Yong Song, Yoo-Jun Kim, Eun-Joo Lee, Sang-Wook Yeh, Jae-Hun Park, Young-Gyu Park
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2296-7745
DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1198418
Popis: The northwestern part of the East/Japan Sea (EJS) is a region with large sea surface temperature (SST) variability and is known as a hotspot of marine heatwaves (MHW) stress for marine environments that peaked in boreal winter (January-February-March). This could have profound impacts on the marine ecosystems over the EJS. Here, we used a set of high-resolution satellite and reanalysis products to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal SST variations and examine their linkage to a large-scale mode of climate variability, such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The results show that AO-related wind forcing modulates the SST variability over the EJS via the oceanic dynamic adjustment processes. In particular, the abnormally warm SSTs in the northwestern part of the EJS are driven by the anomalous anticyclonic eddy-like circulation and Ekman downwelling during a positive AO phase. This physical linkage between a positive AO and the abnormally warm SST could be conducive to MHW occurrences in the EJS as in the extremely positive AO event during the winter of 2020. These results have implications that the MHW occurrences in the EJS could be amplified by natural climate variability along with long-term SST warming.
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