1162 / 2024-09-20 15:08:03

Contrasting warming response over different tropical ocean basins to localized radiative forcing

tropical ocean,climate feedbacks,ocean dynamics,sea surface temperature

   This study examines the sensitivity of tropical ocean basins to localized heating through radiative heat flux patch experiments, focusing on the Indian ocean, western Pacific, eastern Pacific, and Atlantic. Despite equal amplitude heat forcing applied at the top of the atmosphere, significant discrepancies emerge in the warming responses across these basins. These inter-basin variations in warming efficiency are primarily attributed to differences in cloud feedback. The western Pacific exhibits the weakest warming due to strong negative cloud feedback, while the eastern Pacific experiences pronounced warming as reduced low cloud cover leads to increased atmospheric heat flux. In addition, ocean dynamics regulate the heat distribution and affect the local warming. In particular, the tropical Atlantic tends to be warmed associated with weakened upwelling and zonal advection, contrasting with the negative contribution of advection feedback in other basins. This study highlights the critical role of basin-specific atmospheric feedbacks and ocean dynamics, providing insights into the diverse sensitivity of tropical oceans to climate change.