ALBERT

Description: The tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have similar mean states - easterly winds and a zonally sloping thermocline which shoals in the east - but strikingly different sea surface temperature variability. Seasonal and interannual variations have comparable amplitudes, and correspond to different modes of oscillation in the Pacific. In the Atlantic, the seasonal cycle is dominant and has properties of both those modes. The Bjerknes feedback between the wind and SST, and its associated delayed, negative feedback constitute a free (interannual) mode of the Pacific, but in the Atlantic influence the seasonal cycle. This difference between the two oceans is attributable to the smaller dimensions of the Atlantic. An energetic analysis shows a circular relationship between available potential energy and the work done by the wind from April until September in the Atlantic. This energetics perspective suggests that a seasonally excited thermocline mode of coupled variability plays an active role in the seasonal cycle during these months, after which point seasonal forcing regains control.

Description: Recent advances in observational and theoretical studies of El Nino have shed light on controversies concerning the possible effect of global warming on this phenomenon over the past few decades and in the future. El Nino is now understood to be one phase of a natural mode of oscillation-La Nina is the complementary phase-that results from unstable interactions between the tropical Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere. Random disturbances maintain this neutrally stable mode, whose properties depend on the background (time-averaged) climate state. Apparent changes in the properties of El Nino could reflect the importance of random disturbances, but they could also be a consequence of decadal variations of the background state. The possibility that global warming is affecting those variations cannot be excluded.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fedorov -- Philander -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2000 Jun 16;288(5473):1997-2002.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10856205" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: During the early Pliocene, 5 to 3 million years ago, globally averaged temperatures were substantially higher than they are today, even though the external factors that determine climate were essentially the same. In the tropics, El Nino was continual (or "permanent") rather than intermittent. The appearance of northern continental glaciers, and of cold surface waters in oceanic upwelling zones in low latitudes (both coastal and equatorial), signaled the termination of those warm climate conditions and the end of permanent El Nino. This led to the amplification of obliquity (but not precession) cycles in equatorial sea surface temperatures and in global ice volume, with the former leading the latter by several thousand years. A possible explanation is that the gradual shoaling of the oceanic thermocline reached a threshold around 3 million years ago, when the winds started bringing cold waters to the surface in low latitudes. This introduced feedbacks involving ocean-atmosphere interactions that, along with ice-albedo feedbacks, amplified obliquity cycles. A future melting of glaciers, changes in the hydrological cycle, and a deepening of the thermocline could restore the warm conditions of the early Pliocene.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fedorov, A V -- Dekens, P S -- McCarthy, M -- Ravelo, A C -- deMenocal, P B -- Barreiro, M -- Pacanowski, R C -- Philander, S G -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Jun 9;312(5779):1485-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. alexey.fedorov@yale.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16763140" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gleick, P H -- Adams, R M -- Amasino, R M -- Anders, E -- Anderson, D J -- Anderson, W W -- Anselin, L E -- Arroyo, M K -- Asfaw, B -- Ayala, F J -- Bax, A -- Bebbington, A J -- Bell, G -- Bennett, M V L -- Bennetzen, J L -- Berenbaum, M R -- Berlin, O B -- Bjorkman, P J -- Blackburn, E -- Blamont, J E -- Botchan, M R -- Boyer, J S -- Boyle, E A -- Branton, D -- Briggs, S P -- Briggs, W R -- Brill, W J -- Britten, R J -- Broecker, W S -- Brown, J H -- Brown, P O -- Brunger, A T -- Cairns, J Jr -- Canfield, D E -- Carpenter, S R -- Carrington, J C -- Cashmore, A R -- Castilla, J C -- Cazenave, A -- Chapin, F S 3rd -- Ciechanover, A J -- Clapham, D E -- Clark, W C -- Clayton, R N -- Coe, M D -- Conwell, E M -- Cowling, E B -- Cowling, R M -- Cox, C S -- Croteau, R B -- Crothers, D M -- Crutzen, P J -- Daily, G C -- Dalrymple, G B -- Dangl, J L -- Darst, S A -- Davies, D R -- Davis, M B -- De Camilli, P V -- Dean, C -- DeFries, R S -- Deisenhofer, J -- Delmer, D P -- DeLong, E F -- DeRosier, D J -- Diener, T O -- Dirzo, R -- Dixon, J E -- Donoghue, M J -- Doolittle, R F -- Dunne, T -- Ehrlich, P R -- Eisenstadt, S N -- Eisner, T -- Emanuel, K A -- Englander, S W -- Ernst, W G -- Falkowski, P G -- Feher, G -- Ferejohn, J A -- Fersht, A -- Fischer, E H -- Fischer, R -- Flannery, K V -- Frank, J -- Frey, P A -- Fridovich, I -- Frieden, C -- Futuyma, D J -- Gardner, W R -- Garrett, C J R -- Gilbert, W -- Goldberg, R B -- Goodenough, W H -- Goodman, C S -- Goodman, M -- Greengard, P -- Hake, S -- Hammel, G -- Hanson, S -- Harrison, S C -- Hart, S R -- Hartl, D L -- Haselkorn, R -- Hawkes, K -- Hayes, J M -- Hille, B -- Hokfelt, T -- House, J S -- Hout, M -- Hunten, D M -- Izquierdo, I A -- Jagendorf, A T -- Janzen, D H -- Jeanloz, R -- Jencks, C S -- Jury, W A -- Kaback, H R -- Kailath, T -- Kay, P -- Kay, S A -- Kennedy, D -- Kerr, A -- Kessler, R C -- Khush, G S -- Kieffer, S W -- Kirch, P V -- Kirk, K -- Kivelson, M G -- Klinman, J P -- Klug, A -- Knopoff, L -- Kornberg, H -- Kutzbach, J E -- Lagarias, J C -- Lambeck, K -- Landy, A -- Langmuir, C H -- Larkins, B A -- Le Pichon, X T -- Lenski, R E -- Leopold, E B -- Levin, S A -- Levitt, M -- Likens, G E -- Lippincott-Schwartz, J -- Lorand, L -- Lovejoy, C O -- Lynch, M -- Mabogunje, A L -- Malone, T F -- Manabe, S -- Marcus, J -- Massey, D S -- McWilliams, J C -- Medina, E -- Melosh, H J -- Meltzer, D J -- Michener, C D -- Miles, E L -- Mooney, H A -- Moore, P B -- Morel, F M M -- Mosley-Thompson, E S -- Moss, B -- Munk, W H -- Myers, N -- Nair, G B -- Nathans, J -- Nester, E W -- Nicoll, R A -- Novick, R P -- O'Connell, J F -- Olsen, P E -- Opdyke, N D -- Oster, G F -- Ostrom, E -- Pace, N R -- Paine, R T -- Palmiter, R D -- Pedlosky, J -- Petsko, G A -- Pettengill, G H -- Philander, S G -- Piperno, D R -- Pollard, T D -- Price, P B Jr -- Reichard, P A -- Reskin, B F -- Ricklefs, R E -- Rivest, R L -- Roberts, J D -- Romney, A K -- Rossmann, M G -- Russell, D W -- Rutter, W J -- Sabloff, J A -- Sagdeev, R Z -- Sahlins, M D -- Salmond, A -- Sanes, J R -- Schekman, R -- Schellnhuber, J -- Schindler, D W -- Schmitt, J -- Schneider, S H -- Schramm, V L -- Sederoff, R R -- Shatz, C J -- Sherman, F -- Sidman, R L -- Sieh, K -- Simons, E L -- Singer, B H -- Singer, M F -- Skyrms, B -- Sleep, N H -- Smith, B D -- Snyder, S H -- Sokal, R R -- Spencer, C S -- Steitz, T A -- Strier, K B -- Sudhof, T C -- Taylor, S S -- Terborgh, J -- Thomas, D H -- Thompson, L G -- Tjian, R T -- Turner, M G -- Uyeda, S -- Valentine, J W -- Valentine, J S -- Van Etten, J L -- van Holde, K E -- Vaughan, M -- Verba, S -- von Hippel, P H -- Wake, D B -- Walker, A -- Walker, J E -- Watson, E B -- Watson, P J -- Weigel, D -- Wessler, S R -- West-Eberhard, M J -- White, T D -- Wilson, W J -- Wolfenden, R V -- Wood, J A -- Woodwell, G M -- Wright, H E Jr -- Wu, C -- Wunsch, C -- Zoback, M L -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 May 7;328(5979):689-90. doi: 10.1126/science.328.5979.689.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20448167" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Philander, S George -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Jun 18;328(5985):1488-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1189748.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. gphlder@princeton.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20558693" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Moored current meter, sea level, hydrographic, and surface drifter measurements show the large changes that took place in the eastern tropical Pacific during the onset of the warm episode of 1982. In August the near-surface flow at 0 degrees , 110 degrees W reversed direction to eastward. By October the sea surface temperature in the equatorial zone increased by 5 degrees Celsius above the long-term monthly mean value, sea level rose by 22 centimeters at the Galapagos Islands, and the thermocline was displaced downward by 50 to 70 meters along the equator and the South American coast.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Halpern, D -- Hayes, S P -- Leetmaa, A -- Hansen, D V -- Philander, S G -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1983 Sep 16;221(4616):1173-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17811520" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉