The Relationship of Western Boundary Current Heat Transport and Storage to Midlatitude Ocean‐Atmosphere Interaction

摘要: Much of the heat transported poleward by oceans is carried in midlatitude western boundary currents northern hemisphere. As these separate from coastal boundaries and extend eastward into ocean interior, they ∞ux some their to atmosphere store recirculation gyres south current core; content anomalies are negatively correlated with changes volume an isothermal layer known as \subtropical mode water." An analysis upper observations (1955{2001) shows that there substantial interannual variations amount stored 400 m water column. About 26% North Atlantic Paciflc Oceans (corresponding flrst principal component maxima extension regions) phase slightly lag atmospheric Northern hemisphere Annular Mode (NAM or Arctic Oscillation). The simplest explanation, westerlies cause corresponding air-sea ∞uxes therefore content, can be ruled out sign correlation: strong (strong AO) positive anomalies. This conclusion supported previous analyses budget, which show primarily caused advection. anomalies, rather than being ∞uxes, instead appear source those ∞uxes. magnitude association advection storage water, coherence between two suggest a role for circulation decadal climate variability through local interaction.