Identification

Title

Composite physical–biological El Niño and La Niña conditions in the California Current System in CESM1-POP2-BEC

Abstract

El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is recognized as one of the potentially predictable drivers of California Current System (CCS) variability. In this study, we analyze a 67-year coarse-resolution (similar to 1 degrees) simulation using the ocean model CESM-POP2-BEC forced by NCEP/NCAR reanalysis winds to develop a model composite of the physical-biological response of the CCS during ENSO events. The model results are also compared with available observations. The composite anomalies for sea surface temperature (SST), pycnocline depth, 0m-100m vertically averaged chlorophyll, 0m-100m vertically averaged zooplankton, 25m-100m vertically averaged nitrate, and oxygen at 200m depth exhibit large-scale coherent relationships between physics and the ecosystem, including reduced nutrient and plankton concentrations during El Nino, and increased nutrient and plankton concentrations during La Nina. However, the anomalous model response in temperature, chlorophyll, and zooplankton is generally much weaker than observed and includes a 1-2 month delay compared to observations. We also highlight the asymmetry in the model CCS response, where composite model La Nina events are stronger and more significant than model El Nino events, which is a feature previously identified in observations of CCS SST as well as in tropical Pacific Nino-4 SST where atmospheric teleconnections associated with ENSO are forced. These physical-biological composites provide a view of some of the limitations to the potentially predictable impacts of ENSO teleconnections on the CCS within the modeling framework of CESM-POP2-BEC.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d70r9sjt

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2019-10-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact