Abstract
The Pacific decadal and interdecadal oscillation (PDO) has been extensively explored in recent decades because of its profound impact on global climate systems. It is a long-lived ENSO-like pattern of Pacific climate variability with a period of 10–30 years. The general picture is that the anomalously warm (cool) SSTs in the central North Pacific are always accompanied by the anomalously cool (warm) SSTs along the west coast of America and in the central east tropical Pacific with comparable amplitude. In general, there are two classes of opinions on the origin of this low-frequency climate variability, one thinking that it results from deterministically coupled modes of the Pacific ocean-atmosphere system, and the other, from stochastic atmospheric forcing. The deterministic origin emphasizes that the internal physical processes in an air-sea system can provide a positive feedback mechanism to amplify an initial perturbation, and a negative feedback mechanism to reverse the phase of oscillation. The dynamic evolution of ocean circulation determines the timescale of the oscillation. The stochastic origin, however, emphasizes that because the atmospheric activities can be thought as having no preferred timescale and are associated with an essentially white noise spectrum, the ocean response can manifest a red peak in a certain low frequency range with a decadal to interdecadal timescale. In this paper, the authors try to systematically understand the state of the art of observational, theoretical and numerical studies on the PDO and hope to provide a useful background reference for current research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barnett, T. P., D. W. Pierce, M. Latif, D. Dommenget, and R. Saravanan, 1999a: Interdecadal interactions between the tropics and midlatitudes in the Pacific basin. Geophys. Res. Lett., 26(5), 615–618.
Barnett, T. P., D. W. Pierce, R. Saravanan, N. Schneider, D. Dommenget, and M. Latif, 1999b: Origins of the midlatitude Pacific decadal variability. Geophys. Res. Lett, 26(10), 1453–1456.
Bjerknes, J., 1969: Atmospheric teleconnections from the equatorial Pacific. Mon. Wea. Rev., 97, 163–172.
Cane, M. A., and S. E. Zebiak, 1985: A theory for El Ni no and the Southern Oscillation. Science, 228, 1084–1087.
Cessi, P., and F. Paparella, 2001: Excitation of basin modes by ocean-atmosphere coupling. Geophys. Res. Lett, 28(12), 2437–2440.
Cessi, P., and S. Louazel, 2001: Decadal oceanic response to stochastic wind forcing. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 31(10), 3020–3029.
Cessi, P., and F. Primeau, 2001: Dissipative selection of low-frequency modes in a reduced-gravity basin. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 31(1), 127–137.
Chao, Y., M. Ghil, and J. C. McWilliams, 2000: Pacific interdecadal variability in this century’s SSTs. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27(15), 2261–2264.
Deser, C., M. A. Alexander, and M. S. Timlin, 1996: Upper-ocean thermal variations in the North Pacific during 1970–1991. J. Climate, 9(8), 1840–1855.
Feldstein, S. B., and W. A. Robinson, 1994: Comments on ‘Spatial structure of ultra-low frequency variability in a simple atmospheric circulation model’. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 120, 735–739.
Frankignoul, C., P. Muller, and E. Zorita, 1997: A simple model of the decadal response of the ocean to stochastic wind forcing. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 27(8), 1533–1546.
Giese, B. S., and J. A. Carton, 1999: Interannual and decadal variability in the tropical and midlatitude Pacific Ocean. J. Climate, 12(12), 3402–3418.
Graham, N. E., 1994: Decadal-scale climate variability in the tropical and North Pacific during the 1970s and 1980s: Observations and model results. Climate Dyn., 10, 135–162.
Gu, D., and S. G. H. Philander, 1997: Interdecadal climate fluctuations that depend on exchanges between the tropics and extratropics. Science, 275, 805–807.
Hare, S. R., and N. J. Mantua, 2000: Empirical evidence for North Pacific regime shifts in 1977 and 1989. Prog. Oceanogr., 47, 103–145.
Horel, J. D., and J. M. Wallace, 1981: Planetary-scale atmospheric phenomena associated with the Southern Oscillation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 109, 813–829.
Huang, R. X., and B. Qiu, 1994: Three-dimensional structure of the wind driven circulation in the subtropical North Pacific. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 24, 1608–1622.
Jin, F. F., 1997: A theory of interdecadal climate variability of the North Pacific ocean-atmosphere system. J. Climate, 10, 1821–1835.
Jin, F. F., 2001: Low-frequency modes of tropical ocean dynamics. J. Climate, 14, 3874–3881.
Jones, P. D., 1994: Hemispheric surface air temperature variations: A reanalysis and an update to 1993. J. Climate, 7, 1794–1802.
Knutson, T. R., and S. Manabe, 1998: Model assessment of decadal variability and trends in the tropical Pacific Ocean. J. Climate, 11, 2273–2296.
Latif, M., and T. P. Barnett, 1994: Causes of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and North America. Science, 266, 634–637.
Latif, M., and T. P. Barnett, 1996: Decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and North America: Dynamics and predictability. J. Climate, 9, 2407–2423.
Liu, Z., L. Wu, B. Gallimore, and R. Jacob, 2002: Search for the origins of Pacific decadal climate variability. Geophys. Res. Lett, 29(10), doi: 10.1029/2001GL013735.
Liu, Z., S. G. H. Philander, and R. C. Pacanowski, 1994: A GCM study of tropical-subtropical upper ocean water exchange. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 24(12), 2606–2623.
Liu, Z. 2002: How long is the memory of tropical ocean dynamics? J. Climate, 15(12), 3518–3522.
Lukas, R., 2001: Freshening of the upper thermocline in the North Pacific subtropical gyre associated with decadal changes of rainfall. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(18), 3485–3488.
Luyten, J. R., J. Pedlosky, and H. Stommel, 1983: The ventilation thermocline. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 13, 292–309.
Lysne, J., P. Chang, and B. Giese, 1997: Impact of the extratropical Pacific on equatorial variability. Geophys. Res. Lett, 24(21), 2589–2592.
Mautua, J. N., A. R. Hare, Y. Zhang, J. M. Wallace, and R. C. Francis, 1997: A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78, 1069–1080.
McCreary, J., and P. Lu, 1994: On the interaction between the subtropical and the equatorial oceans: The subtropical cell. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 24, 466–497.
Minobe, S., 1997: A 50–70 year climatic oscillation over the North Pacific and North America. Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 683–686.
Minobe, S., 1999: Resonance in bidecadal and pentadecadal climate oscillations over the North Pacific: Role in climatic regime shifts. Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 855–858.
Munnich, M., M. Latif, S. Venzke, and E. M. Reimer, 1998: Decadal oscillations in a simple coupled model. J. Climate, 11(12), 3309–3319.
Nakamura, H., G. Lin, and T. Yamagata, 1997: Decadal climate variability in the North Pacific during the recent decades. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78(10), 2215–2225.
Neelin, J. D., 1990: A hybrid coupled general circulation model for El Nino studies. J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 674–693.
Overland, J. E., S. Salo, and J. M. Adams, 1999: Salinity signature of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Geophys. Res. Lett, 26(9), 1337–1340.
Parker, C. K., C. K. Folland, and M. Jackson, 1995: Marine surface temperature: Observed variations and data requirements. Climate Change, 31, 559.
Pierce, D. W., and T. P. Barnett, 2000: Connections between the Pacific Ocean tropics and midlatitudes on decadal timescales. J. Climate, 13(3), 1173–1194.
Philander, S. G. H., 1990: El Niño, La Niña, and the Southern Oscillation. Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., 293 pp.
Saravanan, R., and J. C. McWilliams, 1997: Stochasticity and spatial resonance in interdecadal climate fluctuations. J. Climate, 10(9), 2299–2320.
Schneider, N., A. J. Miller, M. A. Alexander, and C. Deser, 1999a: Subduction of decadal North Pacific temperature anomalies: Observations and dynamics. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 29(5), 1056–1070.
Schneider, N., S. Venzke, A. J. Miller, D. W. Pierce, T. P. Barnett, C. Deser, and M. Latif, 1999b: Pacific thermocline bridge revisited. Geophys. Res. Lett., 26(9), 1329–1332.
Schneider, N., 2000: A decadal spiciness mode in the tropics. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27(2), 257–260.
Stephens, M., Z. Liu, and H. Yang, 2001: Evolution of subduction planetary waves with application to North Pacific decadal thermocline variability. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 31(7), 1733–1745.
Sura, P., F. Lunkeit, and K. Fraedrich, 2000: Decadal. variability in a simplified wind-driven ocean model. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 30(8), 1917–1930.
Trenberth, K. E., 1990: Recent observed interdecadal climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 71, 988–993.
Timmermann, A., M. Latif, R. Voss, and A. Grotzner, 1998: Northern Hemispheric interdecadal variability: A coupled air-sea mode. J. Climate, 11(8), 1906–1931.
Wang, B., and S. I. An, 2002: A mechanism for decadal changes of ENSO behavior: Roles of background wind changes. Clim. Dynamics, 18, 475–486.
Wang, D. X., and Z. Liu, 2000: The pathway of the interdecadal variability in the Pacific Ocean. Chinese Science Bulletin, 45(17), 1555–1561.
White, W.B., and D. R. Cayan, 1998: Quasi-periodicity and global symmetries in interdecadal upper ocean temperature variability. J. Geophys. Res., 103(C10), 21335–21354.
Wu, L., Z. Liu, R. Gallimore, and R. Jacob, 2003: Pacific decadal variability: the tropical Pacific model, the North Pacific mode. J. Climate, (in press).
Zhang, Y., J. M. Wallace, and D. S. Battisti, 1997: ENSO-like interdecadal variability: 1900–93. J. Climate, 10, 1004–1020.
Zhang, R. H., L. M. Rothstein, and A. J. Busalacchi, 1998: Origin of upper-ocean warming and El Nino change on decadal scales in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Nature, 391, 879–883.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Haijun, Y., Qiong, Z. On the decadal and interdecadal variability in the Pacific Ocean. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 20, 173–184 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-003-0002-y
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-003-0002-y