Skewness of subsurface ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific based on assimilated data

Jingzhi Su; Renhe Zhang; Tim Li; Xinyao Rong

doi:10.1007/s00343-009-9150-y

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Skewness of subsurface ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific based on assimilated data

Updated：2023-05-16

- Skewness of subsurface ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific based on assimilated data
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 27, Issue 3, Pages: 600-606(2009)
- Affiliations：
  
  1. Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences
  2. Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre Institute of Atmospheric Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences
  3. International Pacific Research Center and Department of Meteorology University of Hawaii at Manoa
- Author bio：
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-009-9150-y
  CLC：
- Online First：07 November 2009，
  
  Published：2009
- Accepted：
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Su, J., Zhang, R., Li, T. et al. Skewness of subsurface ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific based on assimilated data., Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 27, 600–606 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-009-9150-y
DOI：

Su, J., Zhang, R., Li, T. et al. Skewness of subsurface ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific based on assimilated data., Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 27, 600–606 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-009-9150-y DOI：

摘要

Abstract

The skewness of subsurface temperature anomaly in the equatorial Pacific Ocean shows a significant asymmetry between the east and west. A positive temperature skewness appears in the equatorial eastern Pacific

while the temperature skewness in the western and central Pacific is primarily negative. There is also an asymmetry of the temperature skewness above and below the climatological mean thermocline in the central and western Pacific. A positive skewness appears below the thermocline

but the skewness is negative above the thermocline. The distinctive vertical asymmetry of the temperature skewness is argued to be attributed to the asymmetric temperature response to upward and downward thermocline displacement in the presence of the observed upper-ocean vertical thermal structure. Because of positive (negative) second derivative of temperature with respect to depth below (above) the thermocline

an upward and a downward shift of the thermocline with equal displacement would lead to a negative temperature skewness above the thermocline but a positive skewness below the thermocline. In the far eastern equatorial Pacific

the thermocline is close to the base of the mixed layer

the shape of the upper-ocean vertical temperature profile cannot be kept. Positive skewness appears in both below the thermocline and above the thermocline in the far eastern basin. Over the central and eastern Pacific

the anomalies of the subsurface waters tend to entrain into the surface mixed layer (by climatological mean upwelling) and then affect the SST. Hence

the positive (negative) subsurface skewness in the far eastern (central) Pacific may favor positive (negative) SST skewness

which is consistent with the observational fact that more La Niña (El Niño) occur in the central (eastern) Pacific. The present result implies a possible new paradigm for El Niño and La Niña amplitude asymmetry in the eastern Pacific.

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