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Recent climatic trends in the tropical Atlantic

Climate Dynamics volume 43, pages 3071–3089 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

A homogeneous monthly data set of sea surface temperature (SST) and pseudo wind stress based on in situ observations is used to investigate the climatic trends over the tropical Atlantic during the last five decades (1964–2012). After a decrease of SST by about 1 °C during 1964–1975, most apparent in the northern tropical region, the entire tropical basin warmed up. That warming was the most substantial (>1 °C) in the eastern tropical ocean and in the longitudinal band of the intertropical convergence zone. Surprisingly, the trade wind system also strengthened over the peirod 1964–2012. Complementary information extracted from other observational data sources confirms the simultaneity of SST warming and the strengthening of the surface winds. Examining data sets of surface heat flux during the last few decades for the same region, we find that the SST warming was not a consequence of atmospheric heat flux forcing. Conversely, we suggest that long-term SST warming drives changes in atmosphere parameters at the sea surface, most notably an increase in latent heat flux, and that an acceleration of the hydrological cycle induces a strengthening of the trade winds and an acceleration of the Hadley circulation. These trends are also accompanied by rising sea levels and upper ocean heat content over similar multi-decadal time scales in the tropical Atlantic. Though more work is needed to fully understand these long term trends, especially what happens from the mid-1970’s, it is likely that changes in ocean circulation involving some combination of the Atlantic meridional overtuning circulation and the subtropical cells are required to explain the observations.

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Acknowledgments

This work was initially performed at FUNCEME (Fortaleza, CE, Brazil) during the FINEP Project “Centro de Alerta de Fenômenos Extremos” (CAFE), No. FINEP Process 01080617/00, and was concluded at UFPE (Recife, PE, Brazil) during the CNPq Project “Mudanças Climáticas no Atlântico Tropical” (MUSCAT) No. Process: 400544/2013-0. JS thanks CNPq for the PVE grant associated to Project MUSCAT. JS and YKK thank FUNCAP for the Grants #BPV-0025-00055.01.00/11 and #127432779 respectively. GC was granted by the AMMA project. YKK thanks IRD for the grant 2011–2013 through the Project JEAI-ALOCGG. MJM was supported by NOAA (PMEL contribution number 4022). This is a contribution of the INCT “AmbTropic”, Brazilian National Institute of Science and Technology for Tropical Marine Environments, CNPq/FAPESB (Grants 565054/2010-4 and 8936/2011). Thanks to G. A. Hounsou-gbo for help in some analyses, and thanks to B. Bourlès and three anonymous reviewers for their useful comments. This work is dedicated to Joël Picaut and Jacques Merle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR-182, LOCEAN, Université Paris-6, 4 Place Jussieu, Tours 45-55, Case 100, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Jacques Servain

  2. CRNM/GAME (Météo-France/CNRS), 42 Avenue G. Coriolis, 31057, Toulouse Cedex, France

    Guy Caniaux

  3. Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère (LPA), UFR-SSMT, University of Cocody, 22 BP 582, Abidjan 22, Ivory Coast

    Yves K. Kouadio

  4. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA, Seattle, WA, USA

    Michael J. McPhaden

  5. Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil

    Moacyr Araujo

  6. Fundação Cearense de Meteorologia e Recursos Hídricos (FUNCEME), Av. Rui Barbosa 1246, Aldeota, Fortaleza, CE, 60115-221, Brazil

    Jacques Servain

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  3. Yves K. Kouadio
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  4. Michael J. McPhaden
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  5. Moacyr Araujo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacques Servain.

Additional information

This paper is a contribution to the special issue on tropical Atlantic variability and coupled model climate biases that have been the focus of the recently completed Tropical Atlantic Climate Experiment (TACE), an international CLIVAR program (http://www.clivar.org/organization/atlantic/tace). This special issue is coordinated by William Johns, Peter Brandt, and Ping Chang, representatives of the TACE Observations and TACE Modeling and Synthesis working groups.

Jacques Servain was visiting scientist at Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife-PE, Brazil during the period October to December 2013.

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Servain, J., Caniaux, G., Kouadio, Y.K. et al. Recent climatic trends in the tropical Atlantic. Clim Dyn 43, 3071–3089 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2168-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2168-7

Keywords

  • Tropical Atlantic
  • Climatic trends
  • Long-term warming