Simulated rapid warming of abyssal North Pacific waters.
Recent observational surveys have shown significant oceanic bottom-water warming. However, the mechanisms causing such warming remain poorly understood, and their time scales are uncertain. Here, we report computer simulations that reveal a fast teleconnection between changes in the surface air-sea heat flux off the Adélie Coast of Antarctica and the bottom-water warming in the North Pacific. In contrast to conventional estimates of a multicentennial time scale, this link is established over only four decades through the action of internal waves. Changes in the heat content of the deep ocean are thus far more sensitive to the air-sea thermal interchanges than previously considered. Our findings require a reassessment of the role of the Southern Ocean in determining the impact of atmospheric warming on deep oceanic waters.
Masuda
Shuhei
S
Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokohama 236-0001, Japan. smasuda@jamstec.go.jp
Awaji
Toshiyuki
T
Sugiura
Nozomi
N
Matthews
John Philip
JP
Toyoda
Takahiro
T
Kawai
Yoshimi
Y
Doi
Toshimasa
T
Kouketsu
Shinya
S
Igarashi
Hiromichi
H
Katsumata
Katsuro
K
Uchida
Hiroshi
H
Kawano
Takeshi
T
Fukasawa
Masao
M