Interannual sea surface salinity and temperature changes in the western Pacific warm pool during 1992–2000

Abstract

Sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface temperature (SST) in the western Pacific warm pool (130–180°E; 10°N–10°S) are analyzed for the period 1992–2000 taking advantage of complementary data from the ship of opportunity program and the Tropical Atmosphere‐Ocean (TAO)‐Triangle Trans‐Ocean Buoy Network (TRITON) array of moored buoys. Covariability of these variables with surface wind stress, surface zonal currents, evaporation, precipitation, and barrier layer thickness is also examined. These fields all go through large oscillations related to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, most notably during the record breaking 1997–1998 El Niño and subsequent strong 1998–2000 La Niña. East of about 160°E, during El Niño, precipitation minus evaporation increases in the equatorial band, in conjunction with anomalous increases in westerly winds, eastward surface currents, SST, and decreases in SSS. Opposite tendencies are evident during La Niña. Peak to peak 2°N–2°S averaged variations reached as much as 1.2 m s−1 for zonal currents and 1.5 practical salinity units (psu) for SSS. West of about 160°E, SST cools during El Niño and warms during La Niña, opposite to what occurs further east. To understand these SST tendencies west of 160°E, a proxy indicator for barrier layer formation is developed in terms of changes in the zonal gradient of SSS (∂S/∂x). Zonal SSS gradients have been shown in modeling studies to be related to barrier layer formation via subduction driven by converging zonal currents in the vicinity of the salinity front at the eastern edge of the warm pool. Correlation between changes in ∂S/∂x and changes in SST a few degrees longitude to the west is significantly nonzero, consistent with the idea that increased barrier layer thickness is related to warmer SSTs during periods of westward surface flow associated with La Niña, and vice versa during El Niño. Direct evidence of barrier layer thickness variations in support of this hypothesis is also presented.