Simulated rapid warming of abyssal North Pacific waters, Science, Shuhei Masuda et al.

Science, published online June 24, 2010; doi: 10.1126/science.1188703

Simulated rapid warming of abyssal North Pacific waters

Shuhei Masuda,^1,* Toshiyuki Awaji,^2,3 Nozomi Sugiura,² John Philip Matthews,^3,4 Takahiro Toyoda,¹ Yoshimi Kawai,¹ Toshimasa Doi,¹ Shinya Kouketsu,¹ Hiromichi Igarashi,² Katsuro Katsumata,¹ Hiroshi Uchida,¹ Takeshi Kawano¹ and Masao Fukasawa¹

Abstract

Recent observational surveys have shown significant oceanic bottom-water warming. However, the mechanisms causing such warming remain poorly understood and their time scales are uncertain. Here, we report computer simulations that reveal a fast teleconnection between changes in the surface air-sea heat flux off the Adélie Coast of Antarctica and the bottom-water warming in the North Pacific. In contrast to conventional estimates of a multicentennial timescale, this link is established over only four decades through the action of internal waves. Changes in the heat content of the deep ocean are thus far more sensitive to the air-sea thermal interchanges than previously considered. Our findings require a reassessment of the role of the Southern Ocean in determining the impact of atmospheric warming on deep oceanic waters.

¹ Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.
² Data Management and Engineering Department, Data Research Center for Marine-Earth Sciences, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.
³ Department of Geophysics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
⁴ Environmental Satellite Applications, Llys Awel, Mount Street, Menai Bridge LL595BW, UK.


^*Correspondence e-mail: smasuda@jamstec.go.jp

Received for publication 23 February 2010. Accepted for publication 8 June 2010.

Link:   http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1188703