U.S. Dept. of Commerce / NOAA / OAR / PMEL / Publications

Recent Bottom Water Warming in the Pacific Ocean

Gregory C. Johnson1, Sabine Mecking2, Bernadette M. Sloyan3and Susan E. Wijffels3

1NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA 98115-6349, USA
2Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
3CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA

J. Climate., 20 (21), 5365–5375, 2007.
Copyright 2007 American Meteorological Society. Further electronic distribution is not allowed.

Gallery of Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Figure 1. Locations of hydrographic sections (thick black lines) with WOCE designators P01 (47°N), P02 (30°N), P06 (32°S), P16 (150°W), and P15 (170°W). Designator labels are located above zonal sections and to the right of meridional sections. Bathymetry is color shaded from 6 km (blue) to 2 km (red) with shallower depths in gray (see color bar) and coastlines drawn as thin black lines.

 

Table 1

 

Figure 2

Figure 2. Sections of potential temperature difference (AO, °C) for P16N (nominally along 152°W) between Hawaii and Kodiak Island, color shaded as a function of latitude and pressure. (a) 2006–1984, (b) 2006–1991, and (c) 1991–84. Red areas indicate warming and blue areas indicate cooling, with color saturation at ±0.05°C. Mean potential temperatures from all the data (black lines) are contoured. Portions of the sections with either large data gaps [from 48.3°–52.4°N in (b) and (c)] or where section longitudes diverged at a given latitude [south of 27°N in (a) and (c)] are blanked out.

 

Figure 3

Figure. 3. Section-mean differences of potential temperature differences (AO, °C, thick lines) for P16N (nominally along 152°W) between 27°N/Hawaii and Kodiak Island with 95% confidence limits (thin lines). (a) 2006–1984, (b) 2006–1991, and (c) 1991–84.

 

Figure 4

Figure 4. Section of potential temperature difference (AO, °C) for P16S/C (nominally along 150°W south of Hawaii) color shaded as a function of latitude and pressure using 2005/06–1991/92 data. Details are the same as in Figure 2.

 

Figure 5

Figure 5. Section-mean potential temperature differences (AO, °C, thick lines) for P16S/C (nominally along 150°W) between the Pacific–Antarctic Ridge (near 59.5°S) and Hawaii (near 19°N) with 95% confidence limits (thin lines) using 2005/06–1991/92 data.

 

Figure 6

Figure 6. Section of potential temperature difference (AO, °C) for P15S (nominally along 170°W, south of the equator) color shaded as a function of latitude and pressure using 2001–1996 data. Details are the same as in Figure 2.

 

Figure 7

Figure 7. Section-mean potential temperature differences (AO, °C, thick lines) for P15S (nominally along 170°W, south of the equator) with 95% confidence limits (thin lines) using 2001–1996 data.

 

Figure 8

Figure 8. Section-mean potential temperature differences (AO, °C, thick lines) for (a) section P06 (nominally along 32°S) with 95% confidence limits (thin lines) using 2003–1992 data, (b) section P02 (nominally along 30°N) with 95% confidence limits (thin lines) using 2004–1993/94 data, and (c) section P01 (nominally along 47°N) with 95% confidence limits (thin lines) using 1999–85 data.

 

Figure 9

Figure 9. (a) Percentage of the earth’s surface area (0.510 × 1015 m2) occupied by the World Ocean as a function of depth. (b) Percentage of the World Ocean volume (1.33 × 1018 m3) below any given depth. Estimates are based on the bathymetry fields of Smith and Sandwell (1997).


Return to References or go back to Abstract

PMEL Outstanding Papers

PMEL Publications Search

PMEL Homepage