Articles | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-487-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-487-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Mar 2021
Research article |
| 18 Mar 2021
| 18 Mar 2021
Imprint of chaotic ocean variability on transports in the southwestern Pacific at interannual timescales
LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, IRD, CNES, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
Guillaume Serazin
Climate Change Research Center, University of New South Wales, Sydney,
Australia
Thierry Penduff
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, Institut des
Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE), Grenoble, France
Christophe Menkes
ENTROPIE, IRD, CNRS, UR, UNC, Ifremer, Nouméa, New Caledonia
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A unique dataset of glider observations reveals tidal beams south of New Caledonia – an internal-tide-generation hot spot in the southwestern tropical Pacific. Observations are in good agreement with numerical modeling output, highlighting the glider's capability to infer internal tides while assessing the model's realism of internal-tide dynamics. Discrepancies are in large part linked to eddy–internal-tide interactions. A methodology is proposed to deduce the internal-tide surface signature.
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Stephanie Leroux, Jean-Michel Brankart, Aurélie Albert, Laurent Brodeau, Jean-Marc Molines, Quentin Jamet, Julien Le Sommer, Thierry Penduff, and Pierre Brasseur
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The goal of the study is to evaluate the predictability of the ocean circulation
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Results from a data set acquired from living foraminifera T. sacculifer collected from surface waters are presented, allowing us to establish a new Mg/Ca–Sr/Ca–temperature equation improving temperature reconstructions. When combining equations, δ18Ow can be reconstructed with a precision of ± 0.5 ‰, while successive reconstructions involving Mg/Ca and δ18Oc preclude salinity reconstruction with a precision better than ± 1.69. A new direct linear fit to reconstruct salinity could be established.
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Short summary
The various currents in the southwestern Pacific Ocean contribute to the redistribution of waters from the subtropical gyre equatorward and poleward. The drivers of their interannual variability are not completely understood but are usually thought to be related to well-known climate modes of variability. Here, we suggest that oceanic chaotic variability alone, which is by definition unpredictable, explains the majority of this interannual variability south of 20° S.
The various currents in the southwestern Pacific Ocean contribute to the redistribution of...
