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Seasonal modulation of mixed-layer temperature anomaly in Kuroshio–Oyashio confluence region by bimodal Kuroshio extension

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Abstract

Given the essential impact of mixed-layer temperature (MLT) seasonality in Kuroshio–Oyashio Confluence Region (KOCR) on the variations of climate and marine economic species, the present study investigates causes of seasonal MLT anomaly (MLTA) in KOCR under bimodal states of Kuroshio Extension (KE). The results reveal that KE bimodality plays a modulation role in the seasonal variability of MLTA in KOCR. There is an opposite seasonal variation trend of MLTA under different KE states, and the MLTA amplitude in cold season (winter and spring) is larger than that in warm season (summer and autumn). Such behavior is directly induced by different distribution of climatological MLT and wind field in cold and warm seasons, as well as the opposite anomalous velocity of wind and ocean currents nearby KOCR associated with different KE states through changing sensible and latent heat flux, Ekman and geostrophic advection. The results suggest the dependency of short-term (seasonal) variability of KOCR-MLTA on the long-term (decadal) variations of KE background state.

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Data availability

Datasets for this study include AVISO, OISST, FORA and JRA-55. Oceanic variables from AVISO, OISST and FORA are available at https://www.marine.copernicus.eu, https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oisst/optimum-interpolation-sea-surface-temperature-oisst-v21, and http://synthesis.jamstec.go.jp/FORA/e/, respectively. Atmospheric variables from JRA-55 can be downloaded from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/jra-55.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to three anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions have greatly improved the manuscript, and are thankful to the public platforms for providing the data listed in Sect. 2. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42106036 and 41975094) and the Basic Research and Operational Special Project of CAMS (2021Z007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Meteorology, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yu Geng & Hong-Li Ren

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Hong-Li Ren

  3. College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Qiang Wang

  4. Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Qiang Wang

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Material preparation and data collection were performed by YG. Analysis was conducted by YG and HLR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YG. HLR and QW reviewed and commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hong-Li Ren.

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Geng, Y., Ren, HL. & Wang, Q. Seasonal modulation of mixed-layer temperature anomaly in Kuroshio–Oyashio confluence region by bimodal Kuroshio extension. Clim Dyn 60, 3051–3063 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06487-8

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