Variability of the South Pacific Subtropical Surface Salinity Maximum
2019
Bingham, Frederick M. | Busecke, Julius J. M. | Gordon, Arnold L.
During the period 2011–2017 the South Pacific subtropical sea surface salinity maximum (SSS‐max) exhibited significant variability. It nearly doubled in area, increased in salinity by ~0.1 pss, and moved northward by 1–2° of latitude and eastward by 10° of longitude. The change was not associated with change in air‐sea freshwater flux, but rather due to changes in the advection of the subtropical gyre and South Equatorial Current, and variation in Ekman transport and Ekman pumping. There was a substantial decrease in the dynamic height difference associated with the South Equatorial Current, the Ekman transport, and Ekman pumping northeast of the SSS‐max. The observed changes in the SSS‐max appear to be linked to those of subducted subtropical underwater observed in the interior. They are also strongly associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The lagged correlation between the annual average PDO index and the area of the SSS‐max, with PDO leading by 2 years, is 0.86.
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