Marked freshening of North Pacific subtropical mode water in 2009 and 2010: Influence of freshwater supply in the 2008 warm season

Shusaku Sugimoto; Nobuto Takahashi; Kimio Hanawa

doi:10.1002/grl.50600

Marked freshening of North Pacific subtropical mode water in 2009 and 2010: Influence of freshwater supply in the 2008 warm season

Shusaku Sugimoto, Nobuto Takahashi, Kimio Hanawa

SCI - Geophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Changes in salinity of the North Pacific subtropical mode water (STMW) were investigated using profiles for 2003-2011. In 2009 and 2010, the STMW freshened markedly (S < 34.7 psu), with salinity 0.1 psu lower than other years. Freshening in 2009 was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season, which was related to an increase in the number of low pressures passing over the STMW formation region associated with a southeastward shrinkage of the summertime North Pacific subtropical high. The freshening signal persisted under the seasonal pycnocline during the 2009 warm season. This resulted in the freshening of STMW in 2010. Key Points We investigated salinity changes using Argo float The STMW freshened markedly in 2009 and 2010 The freshening was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3102-3105
Number of pages	4
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	40
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50600
Publication status	Published - 2013 Jun 28

Keywords

Argo float
freshwater supply
North Pacific subtropical mode water
salinity
winter mixed layer

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10.1002/grl.50600

Cite this

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title = "Marked freshening of North Pacific subtropical mode water in 2009 and 2010: Influence of freshwater supply in the 2008 warm season",

abstract = "Changes in salinity of the North Pacific subtropical mode water (STMW) were investigated using profiles for 2003-2011. In 2009 and 2010, the STMW freshened markedly (S < 34.7 psu), with salinity 0.1 psu lower than other years. Freshening in 2009 was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season, which was related to an increase in the number of low pressures passing over the STMW formation region associated with a southeastward shrinkage of the summertime North Pacific subtropical high. The freshening signal persisted under the seasonal pycnocline during the 2009 warm season. This resulted in the freshening of STMW in 2010. Key Points We investigated salinity changes using Argo float The STMW freshened markedly in 2009 and 2010 The freshening was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season",

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author = "Shusaku Sugimoto and Nobuto Takahashi and Kimio Hanawa",

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T1 - Marked freshening of North Pacific subtropical mode water in 2009 and 2010

T2 - Influence of freshwater supply in the 2008 warm season

AU - Sugimoto, Shusaku

AU - Takahashi, Nobuto

AU - Hanawa, Kimio

PY - 2013/6/28

Y1 - 2013/6/28

N2 - Changes in salinity of the North Pacific subtropical mode water (STMW) were investigated using profiles for 2003-2011. In 2009 and 2010, the STMW freshened markedly (S < 34.7 psu), with salinity 0.1 psu lower than other years. Freshening in 2009 was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season, which was related to an increase in the number of low pressures passing over the STMW formation region associated with a southeastward shrinkage of the summertime North Pacific subtropical high. The freshening signal persisted under the seasonal pycnocline during the 2009 warm season. This resulted in the freshening of STMW in 2010. Key Points We investigated salinity changes using Argo float The STMW freshened markedly in 2009 and 2010 The freshening was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season

AB - Changes in salinity of the North Pacific subtropical mode water (STMW) were investigated using profiles for 2003-2011. In 2009 and 2010, the STMW freshened markedly (S < 34.7 psu), with salinity 0.1 psu lower than other years. Freshening in 2009 was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season, which was related to an increase in the number of low pressures passing over the STMW formation region associated with a southeastward shrinkage of the summertime North Pacific subtropical high. The freshening signal persisted under the seasonal pycnocline during the 2009 warm season. This resulted in the freshening of STMW in 2010. Key Points We investigated salinity changes using Argo float The STMW freshened markedly in 2009 and 2010 The freshening was caused by excess rainfall in the 2008 warm season

KW - Argo float

KW - freshwater supply

KW - North Pacific subtropical mode water

KW - salinity

KW - winter mixed layer

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JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 12

ER -

Marked freshening of North Pacific subtropical mode water in 2009 and 2010: Influence of freshwater supply in the 2008 warm season

Abstract

Keywords

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