Articles | Volume 21, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1117-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1117-2024
Research article
 | 
07 Mar 2024
Research article |  | 07 Mar 2024

Linking northeastern North Pacific oxygen changes to upstream surface outcrop variations

Sabine Mecking and Kyla Drushka

Data sets

Multi-mission L4 Optimally Interpoated Sea Surface Salinity O. Melnichenko https://doi.org/10.5067/SMP10-4U7CS

The Climate Data Guide: North Pacific (NP) Index by Trenberth and Hurrell; monthly and winter J. Hurrell et al. https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/north-pacific-np-index-trenberth-and-hurrell-monthly-and-winter

North Pacific Gyre Oscillation links ocean climate and ecosystem change (http://www.o3d.org/npgo/) E. Di Lorenzo et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032838

EN4: quality controlled ocean temperature and salinity profiles and monthly objective analyses with uncertainty estimates (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/en4) S. A. Good et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009067

Daily high-resolution blended analyses for sea surface temperature (https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.noaa.oisst.v2.highres.html) R. W. Reynolds et al. https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1824.1

Persistently declining oxygen levels in the interior waters of the eastern subarctic Pacific (https://www.waterproperties.ca/linep) F. A. Whitney et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2007.08.007

Changes in ocean heat, carbon content and ventilation: Review of the first decade of global repeat hydrography (GO-SHIP) (https://cchdo.ucsd.edu) L. D. Talley et al. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-052915-100829

Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/cmb/ersst/v5/index/ersst.v5.pdo.dat) N. J. Mantua et al. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<1069:APICOW>2.0.CO;2

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Short summary
This study investigates whether northeastern North Pacific oxygen changes may be caused by surface density changes in the northwest as water moves along density horizons from the surface into the subsurface ocean. A correlation is found with a lag that about matches the travel time of water from the northwest to the northeast. Salinity is the main driver causing decadal changes in surface density, whereas salinity and temperature contribute about equally to long-term declining density trends.
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