Weakened Submesoscale Eddies in the Equatorial Pacific Under Greenhouse Warming uri icon

abstract

  • AbstractSubmesoscale eddies in the equatorial Pacific induce a pronounced upward heat flux from the subsurface to the surface ocean. Yet their response to greenhouse warming and feedback on the meanstate change remain unknown. Using a longterm highresolution climate simulation under a high carbon emission scenario, we show that submesoscale eddies in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific weaken, leading to an 50% reduction in their upward heat flux at the end of the 21st century, compared to its mid20th century level. This reduction is caused by an intensified stratification and a weakened cold tongue thermal front associated with a projected El Niolike warming pattern. The reduced vertical submesoscale eddy heat flux plays an important role in the anomalous heat budget of the surface layer over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific under greenhouse warming, acting as negative feedback on the El Niolike warming pattern.

published proceedings

  • GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

author list (cited authors)

  • Wang, S., Jing, Z., Wu, L., Cai, W., Geng, T., Chang, P., ... Yang, H.

complete list of authors

  • Wang, Shengpeng||Jing, Zhao||Wu, Lixin||Cai, Wenju||Geng, Tao||Chang, Ping||Danabasoglu, Gohkan||Wang, Hong||Wang, Chengcheng||Chen, Zhaohui||Ma, Xiaohui||Gan, Bolan||Yang, Haiyuan