Abstract
The thermal state of the Bering Sea exhibits interdecadal variations, with distinct changes occurred in 1997–1998. After the unusual thermal condition of the Bering Sea in 1997–1998, we found that the recent climate variability (1999–2010) in the Bering Sea is closely related to Pacific basin-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. Specifically, warming in the Bering and Chukchi Seas in this period involves sea ice reduction and stronger oceanic heat flux to the atmosphere in winter. The atmospheric response to the recent warming in the Bering and Chukchi Seas resembles the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) pattern. Further analysis reveals that the recent climate variability in the Bering and Chukchi Seas has strong covariability with large-scale climate modes in the Pacific, that is, the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation and the central Pacific El Niño. In this study, physical connections among the recent climate variations in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, the NPO pattern and the Pacific large-scale climate patterns are investigated via cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis. An additional model experiment using the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmospheric Model, version 3, is conducted to support the robustness of the results.
Highlights
The Bering Sea, a northern extension of the North Pacific Ocean, is located between Russia and Alaska and is the third largest semi-enclosed sea in the world
After the unusual thermal condition of the Bering Sea in 1997–1998, we found that the recent climate variability (1999–2010) in the Bering Sea is closely related to Pacific basin-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns
Our analysis found that the recent warming in the Bering Sea had significant covariability with warming in the tropical central Pacific, that is central Pacific (CP) El Nino, which is clearly distinguishable from the canonical eastern Pacific (EP) El Nino (Ashok et al 2007; Kao and Yu 2009; Kug et al 2009; Lee and McPhaden 2010; Yeh et al 2009)
Summary
The Bering Sea, a northern extension of the North Pacific Ocean, is located between Russia and Alaska and is the third largest semi-enclosed sea in the world. The linkage between the Bering Sea and the North Pacific large-scale climate variability was supposed to be established primarily through the atmosphere; in particular, the connection between the two regions seems to vary according to the strength and position of the Aleutian Low (Niebauer 1988; Overland et al 1999; Stabeno et al 2001). We sought to identify the pattern of the North Pacific variability that is associated with the major physical changes in the Bering Sea, focusing on the recent decade. Our analysis substantiates that the Bering Sea oceanic variability from 1999 to 2010 (i.e., after the unusual conditions in 1997/1998) has a profound impact on atmospheric circulation in the North Pacific, which is characterized by the NPO-like pattern in winter. Discussion and concluding remarks of this study follow in the last section
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