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Processes of interannual mixed layer temperature variability in the thermocline ridge of the Indian Ocean

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Abstract

Sea-surface temperature interannual anomalies (SSTAs) in the thermocline ridge of the southwestern tropical Indian Ocean (TRIO) have several well-documented climate impacts. In this paper, we explore the physical processes responsible for SSTA evolution in the TRIO region using a combination of observational estimates and model-derived surface layer heat budget analyses. Vertical oceanic processes contribute most to SSTA variance from December to June, while lateral advection dominates from July to November. Atmospheric fluxes generally damp SSTA generation in the TRIO region. As a result of the phase opposition between the seasonal cycle of vertical processes and lateral advection, there is no obvious peak in SSTA amplitude in boreal winter, as previously noted for heat content anomalies. Positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events and the remote influence of El Niño induce comparable warming over the TRIO region, though IOD signals peak earlier (November–December) than those associated with El Niño (around March–May). Mechanisms controlling the SSTA growth in the TRIO region induced by these two climate modes differ strongly. While SSTA growth for the IOD mostly results from southward advection of warmer water, increased surface shortwave flux dominates the El Niño SSTA growth. In both cases, vertical oceanic processes do not contribute strongly to the initial SSTA growth, but rather maintain the SSTA by opposing the effect of atmospheric negative feedbacks during the decaying phase.

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Notes

  1. We will discuss the apparent contradiction with results from Sects. 4, 5, 6.

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Acknowledgments

B. Praveen Kumar did this work while at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO, Goa, India), with a research grant from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, Govt. of India). Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, France) provided him a “BEST” grant to support a one-year visit to Laboratoire d'Océanographie Expérimentation et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN, Paris). Jérôme Vialard and Matthieu Lengaigne are funded by Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). Matthieu Lengaigne provided his contribution to this paper while visiting the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO) in Goa, India. Anne-Charlotte Peter ran the lower resolution global experiment that we used in this study. Model experiments were performed using HPC resources from GENCI-IDRIS (Grant 2010-011140). We thank the OSCAR project office for providing Oscar currents data and the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for providing the World Ocean Atlas dataset. TropFlux data is developed as a research collaboration between CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO, India), ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS) and Laboratoire d'Océanographie Expérimentation et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN, Paris), and downloaded from http://www.locean-ipsl.upmc.fr/tropflux/. We thank three anonymous reviewers who provided constructive comments on an initial version of the manuscript, and the editor for a quick review process. This is INCOIS contribution number 163, and PMEL contribution number 4108.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, Hyderabad, India

    B. Praveen Kumar

  2. Laboratoire d’Océanographie Expérimentation et Approches Numériques, CNRS, UPMC, IRD, MNHN, Paris, France

    J. Vialard, M. Lengaigne & S. Pous

  3. CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre, Vishakhapatnam, India

    V. S. N. Murty

  4. Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, NOAA, Miami, FL, USA

    G. R. Foltz

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

    M. J. McPhaden

  6. LMI ICEMASA, IRD, Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    S. Pous

  7. IFREMER, Centre de Brest, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Spatiale, Pointe du Diable, B.P. 70, 29280, Plouzane, France

    C. de Boyer Montégut

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  1. B. Praveen Kumar
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  2. J. Vialard
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Praveen Kumar, B., Vialard, J., Lengaigne, M. et al. Processes of interannual mixed layer temperature variability in the thermocline ridge of the Indian Ocean. Clim Dyn 43, 2377–2397 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2059-y

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