Physics – Geophysics
Scientific paper
Feb 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997jgr...102.3255w&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 102, Issue C2, p. 3255-3266
Physics
Geophysics
112
Global Change: Solar Variability, Oceanography: General: Climate And Interannual Variability, History Of Geophysics: Solar/Planetary Relationships, Global Change: Oceans
Scientific paper
By focusing on time sequences of basin-average and global-average upper ocean temperature (i.e., from 40°S to 60°N) we find temperatures responding to changing solar irradiance in three separate frequency bands with periods of >100 years, 18-25 years, and 9-13 years. Moreover, we find them in two different data sets, that is, surface marine weather observations from 1990 to 1991 and bathythermograph (BT) upper ocean temperature profiles from 1955 to 1994. Band-passing basin-average temperature records find each frequency component in phase across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, yielding global-average records with maximum amplitudes of 0.04°+/-0.01°K and 0.07°+/-0.01°K on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively. These achieve maximum correlation with solar irradiance records (i.e., with maximum amplitude 0.5Wm-2 at the top of the atmosphere) at phase lags ranging from 30° to 50°. From the BT data set, solar signals in global-average temperature penetrate to 80-160 m, confined to the upper layer above the main pycnocline. Operating a global-average heat budget for the upper ocean yields sea surface temperature responses of 0.01°-0.03°K and 0.02°-0.05°K on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively, from the 0.1Wm-2 penetration of solar irradiance to the sea surface. Since this is of the same order as that observed (i.e., 0.04°-0.07°K), we can infer that anomalous heat from changing solar irradiance is stored in the upper layer of the ocean.
Cayan Daniel R.
Dettinger Michael D.
Lean Judith
White Warren B.
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