Low-Frequency Variability of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre as Seen from Satellite Altimetry and Argo

Abstract

AbstractLow-frequency variability of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre is investigated using satellite altimeter and Argo data. In most of the region studied, both sea surface height and steric height exhibit a linearly increasing trend, with its largest amplitude in the western part of the basin. Analysis of the Argo data reveals that the steric height increase north of 30°S is primarily caused by variations in the upper 500 m, while the steric height increase south of 30°S is determined by variations in the whole depths from the sea surface to 1800 m, with contributions from below 1000 m accounting for about 50% of the total variance. Most of the steric height increase is due to thermal expansion, except below 1000 m where haline contraction is of comparable magnitude with thermal expansion. Correspondingly, the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre has strengthened in the past decade. Within the latitude range between 10° and 35°S, transport of the gyre circulation increased by 20%–30% in the upper 1000 m and by 10%–30% in the deeper layers from 2004 to 2013. Further analysis shows that these variations are closely related to the southern annular mode in the South Pacific.