Researchers from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have unveiled a compelling link between the 11-year solar cycle and the long-term climate patterns in the tropical Pacific.
Researchers from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have unveiled a compelling link between the 11-year solar cycle and the long-term climate patterns in the tropical Pacific. Dr. HUO Wenjuan, alongside Professors XIAO Ziniu and ZHAO Liang, spearheaded a study shedding light on this previously debated connection.
The study,published in Journal of Climate, offers a fresh perspective on how the sun's 11-year cycle influences the tropical Pacific's climate over decades. By accumulating solar radiation, the ocean absorbs heat, influencing its heat content (OHC) and subsequently impacting the atmosphere's behavior on a decadal scale. This interconnected process amplifies the alignment of climate variations with the 11-year solar cycle.
Examining observations, reanalysis datasets, and a solar-cycle-forced sensitivity experiment (known as the SOL experiment), the team identified distinct patterns. During the ascending phase of the solar cycle, the tropical Pacific's OHC anomalies mirror a La Nina-like pattern, accompanied by westward shifts in the Walker circulation. Conversely, the declining phase exhibits opposite trends. This coherence arises from solar-induced alterations in warm water volumes and the redistribution of solar-related heat via ocean dynamics.
Read More: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science
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