Abstract
AbstractThe Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a complex aggregate of different atmospheric and oceanographic forcings spanning the extratropical and tropical Pacific. The PDO has widespread climatic and societal impacts, thus understanding the processes contributing to PDO variability is critical. Distinguishing PDO‐related variability is particularly challenging in the tropical Pacific due to the dominance of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and influence of anthropogenic warming signals. Century‐long western Pacific records of subannual sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS), derived from coral Sr/Ca and δ18O profiles, respectively, allow for evaluating different climatic sensitivities and identifying PDO‐related variability in the region. The summer Sr/Ca‐SST record provides evidence of a significant SST increase, likely tied to greenhouse gas emissions. Anthropogenic warming is masked in the winter Sr/Ca‐SST record by interannual to multidecadal scale changes driven by the East‐Asian Winter Monsoon and the PDO. Decadal climate variability during winter is strongly correlated to the PDO, in agreement with other PDO records in the region. The PDO also exerts influence on the SSS difference between the dry and wet season coral δ18O (δ18Oc)‐SSS records through water advection. The PDO and El Niño–Southern Oscillation constructively combine to enhance/reduce advection of saline Kuroshio waters at our site. Overall, we are able to demonstrate that climate records from a tropical reef environment significantly capture PDO variability and related changes over the period of a century. This implies that the tropical western Pacific is a key site in understanding multifrequency climate variability, including its impact on tropical climate at longer timescales.
Highlights
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is the dominant mode of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the North Pacific poleward of 20°N at decadal timescales (Mantua et al, 1997; Mantua & Hare, 2002)
The PDO interacts with the interannually dominant El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the tropics resulting in decadal SST and sea surface salinity (SSS) trends being broadly similar to ENSO patterns (Delcroix et al, 2007; Deser et al, 2004)
Compared with the PDO, East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM), and Niño 3.4 indices and solar irradiance, summer SST is incoherent with these records at the previously
Summary
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is the dominant mode of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the North Pacific poleward of 20°N at decadal timescales (Mantua et al, 1997; Mantua & Hare, 2002). The PDO rapidly transitions between prolonged periods of warm (positive) and cold (negative) phases every few decades (Mantua et al, 1997; Minobe, 1997; Newman et al, 2016), altering rainfall patterns and ocean productivity in the region. During warm (positive) PDO phases, SSTs are anomalously warm along the northwest coast of North America, coincident with increased rainfall along the coast including the southwest United States and Central America, and decreased rainfall and streamflow in the interior western United States (Felis et al, 2010; Mantua & Hare, 2002; Miller et al, 1994; Nigam et al, 1999). Understanding the mechanisms driving PDO variability is critical to the mitigation of its impacts and their predictability in the future
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