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Water masses in the far western equatorial Pacific during the winters of 2010 and 2012

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Abstract

Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data obtained during the 2010 La Niña winter and the 2012 normal winter, combined with concurrent Argo profiling float data, provide a quasi-synoptic description of the water mass distributions and their variations in the far western equatorial Pacific Ocean. The water mass connection between the western Pacific and the east Indonesian seas is emphasized. Analysis indicates that the North Pacific Tropical Water (NPTW, S >34.9) carried by the Mindanao Current southward and the South Pacific Tropical Water (SPTW, S >35.1) from the southern hemisphere meet in the area. Observations suggest that the southward transport of the NPTW is stronger in 2010 than in 2012 due to enhanced advection of the Mindanao Current. The distribution of SPTW, which crosses the equator in the northwest direction and retroflects back to the interior Pacific Ocean, is found to retreat from 4°–5°N in 2012 to 2°–3°N in 2010 La Niña peak in the 130°E section. A relatively fresh tropical subsurface water is identified in between the NPTW and the SPTW, moving eastward with the North Equatorial Countercurrent into the equatorial Pacific Ocean. However, the salinity maximum of this subsurface fresh water is found to decrease eastward, suggesting that the salinity maximum is generated either by strong diapycnal mixing or by isopycnal mixing of temporally entrained Indonesian sea water into the area.

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Acknowledgement

Thanks are extended to the crews and scientists of R/V Kexue - 1. Data acquisition and sample collections were supported by the NSFC Open Research Cruise (Cruise Nos. NORC2010-09 and NORC2012-09), funded by the Shiptime Sharing Project of NSFC. This cruise was conducted onboard R/V Kexue-1 by the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Bo Li  (李博), Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮) & Hui Zhou  (周慧)

  2. Function Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Climate, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266000, China

    Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮)

  3. Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266000, China

    Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮)

  4. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Bo Li  (李博)

  5. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Bo Li  (李博)

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  1. Bo Li  (李博)
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  2. Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮)
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  3. Hui Zhou  (周慧)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dongliang Yuan  (袁东亮).

Additional information

Supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA11010205), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41421005, U1606402, 41720104008, 41376032), the Qingdao Marine Science National Laboratory (Nos. 2016ASKJ04, 2016SAKJ12), and the Shandong Provincial Project (No. 2014GJJS0101)

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Li, B., Yuan, D. & Zhou, H. Water masses in the far western equatorial Pacific during the winters of 2010 and 2012. J. Ocean. Limnol. 36, 1459–1474 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-018-6068-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-018-6068-2

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