Simulated response of North Pacific Mode Waters to global warming
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
12-1-2009
Abstract
This study investigates the response of the Mode Waters in the North Pacific to global warming based on a set of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) models. Solutions between a present-day climate and a future, warmer climate are compared. Under the warmer climate scenario, the Mode Waters are produced on lighter isopycnal surfaces and are significantly weakened in terms of their formation and evolution. These changes are due to a more stratified upper ocean and thus a shoaling of the winter mixing depth resulting mainly from a reduction of the ocean-to-atmosphere heat loss over the subtropical region. The basin-wide wind stress may adjust the Mode Waters indirectly through its impact on the surface heat flux and subduction process. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
36
Issue
23
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Luo, Yiyong, Qinyu Liu, and Lewis M. Rothstein. "Simulated response of North Pacific Mode Waters to global warming." Geophysical Research Letters 36, 23 (2009). doi: 10.1029/2009GL040906.