title: Simulated rapid warming of abyssal North Pacific waters.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokohama 236-0001, Japan. smasuda@jamstec.go.jp
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Awaji
authors.forename: Nozomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: John Philip
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toyoda
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Toshimasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kouketsu
authors.forename: Hiromichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Katsuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katsumata
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawano
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukasawa