Effect of subtropical mode water on the decadal variability of the subsurface transport through the Luzon Strait in the western Pacific Ocean

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AbstractAnalysis of the 62 year hindcast outputs from an eddy‐resolving ocean general circulation model shows a good correspondence of the Luzon Strait subsurface transport to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index on a decadal time scale, with the latter leading by about 5 years. The backward particle tracing experiments indicate that the part of the subsurface water in the Luzon Strait generated by the subduction processes comes from the Subtropical Mode Water (STMW). The model results also show a strong PDO signal in the subduction rate, as well as the subsurface low potential vorticity (PV), in the formation region of the STMW, and these decadal signals can be traced all the way to the Luzon Strait as PV anomalies follow the subtropical gyre circulation in about 5 years. The PV anomalies from the STMW affect the subsurface net transport in the Luzon Strait through changing the subsurface density structure and then zonal velocity.