Identification

Title

Interannual and decadal variability in tropical Pacific chlorophyll from a statistical reconstruction: 1958-2008

Abstract

Historical understanding of marine biological dynamics has been limited by sparse in situ observations and the fact that dedicated ocean color satellite remote sensing only began in 1997. From these observations, it has become clear that physical oceanography controls biological variability over seasonal to interannual time scales. To quantify how multidecadal, climate-scale patterns impact biological productivity, the strong correlation with sea surface temperature and sea surface height is utilized to reconstruct a retrospective 51-yr time series of surface chlorophyll, the pigment measured by ocean color satellites. The canonical correlation analysis statistical reconstruction demonstrates greatest skill away from land and within about 10 degrees of the equator where chlorophyll variance is greatest and predominantly associated with El Nino-Southern Oscillation dynamics. Differences in chlorophyll patterns between east or central Pacific El Nino events are observed, with larger declines east of 180 degrees for east Pacific events and west of 180 degrees for central Pacific events. Additionally, small but significant decadal variations in chlorophyll patterns are observed corresponding to the Pacific decadal oscillation. Decadal changes in chlorophyll west of 180 degrees are consistent with increased stratification, whereas changes between 110 degrees-140 degrees W may be related to long-term shoaling of the nutrient-bearing equatorial undercurrent.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7gh9mgs

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

2017-09-01T00:00:00Z

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