Salinification has occurred in the South China Sea from late 2012 to the present, as shown by satellite Aquarius/Soil Moisture Active Passive data and Argo float data. This salinification follows a 20 year freshening trend that started in 1993. The salinification signal is strongest near the surface and extends downward under the seasonal thermocline to a depth of 150 m. The salinification occurs when the phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation switches from negative to positive. Diagnosis of the salinity budget suggests that an increasing net surface freshwater loss and the horizontal salt advection through the Luzon Strait driven by the South China Sea throughflow contributed to this ongoing salinification. In particular, a decrease in precipitation and enhanced Luzon Strait transport dominated the current intense salinification. Of particular interest is whether this salinification will continue until it reaches the previous maximum recorded in 1992.
Realistic simulations of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) by global climate models (GCMs) remain a great challenge. To evaluate GCM simulations o...
Motivated by increasing demand in the community for intraseasonal predictions of weather extremes, predictive skill of tropical cyclogenesis is invest...
Sensible heat flux directly influences local and regional climate and can be estimated using remotely sensed satellite observations. Although signific...
2018 | ICES Journal of Marine Science, 75(6):2202–2212
Description:
Alteration and degradation of benthic structure by fishing gear can impede efforts to manage fish stock sustainably. Although the impacts of mobile ge...
2017 | Geophysical Research Letters 44(22): 11614-11623, 2017
Description:
Wintertime precipitation over the southern U.S. is known to decrease with interannual cooling of the equatorial Pacific associated with La Niña, whic...
The seasonal predictability of austral summer rainfall is evaluated in a set of retrospective forecasts (hindcasts) performed as part of the Minerva a...
This paper describes a novel simulation of active and break spells of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) using a relatively high-resolution regional coup...
The representation of extratropical cyclone (ETC) precipitation in general circulation models (GCMs) and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Mo...
Summer extreme heat waves (EHWs) over the Texas area and their trend are investigated using observations and atmospheric general circulation model (AG...
During the strong 2015/16 El Niño, only normal to below-average precipitation fell across California in the late winter. This disagrees with both pre...
The net surface water budget, precipitation minus evaporation (P − E), shows a clear seasonal cycle in the U.S. Southwest with a net gain of surface...
The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) exhibits pronounced seasonality. While it is largely characterized by equatorially eastward propagation during t...
The tropical precipitation–moisture relationship, characterized by rapid increases in precipitation for modest increases in moisture, is conceptuall...
Sensible heat flux is a turbulent flux driving interactions between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere, propelling local and regional climate. W...
The predictable patterns and intraensemble variability of monthly 850-hPa zonal wind over the tropical Indo-Pacific region are investigated using 7-mo...
Hourly precipitation extremes are crucial in hydrological design. Their frequency and magnitude is encapsulated in the probability distribution tail. ...
The Colorado River is the primary surface water resource in the rapidly growing U.S. Southwest. Over the period 1916–2014, the Upper Colorado River ...
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the NOAA website.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal
website.
Linking to a non-federal Website does not constitute an
endorsement by NOAA or any of its employees of the sponsors
or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy
policy when you follow the link.
NOAA is not responsible for Section 508 compliance
(accessibility) on other federal or private websites.