The Mean and the Time Variability of the Shallow Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Tropical South Pacific Ocean

Abstract

he meridional transport in the Pacific Ocean subtropical cell is studied for the period from 2004 to 2011 using gridded Argo temperature and salinity profiles and atmospheric reanalysis surface winds. The poleward Ekman and equatorward geostrophic branches of the subtropical cell exhibit an El Niño?Southern Oscillation signature with strong meridional transport occurring during La Niña and weak meridional transport during El Niño. At 7.5°S, mean basinwide geostrophic transport above 1000 dbar is 48.5 ± 2.5 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s?1) of which 30.3?38.4 Sv return to the subtropics in the surface Ekman layer, whereas 10.2?18.3 Sv flow northward, feeding the Indonesian Throughflow. Geostrophic transport within the subtropical cell is stronger in the ocean interior and weaker in the western boundary during La Niña, with changes in the interior dominating basinwide transport. Using atmospheric reanalyses, only half of the mean heat gain by the Pacific north of 7.5°S is compensated by oceanic heat transport out of the region. The National Oceanography Centre at Southampton air?sea flux climatology is more consistent for closing the oceanic heat budget. In summary, the use of Argo data for studying the Pacific subtropical cell provides an improved estimate of basinwide mean geostrophic transport, includes both interior and western boundary contributions, quantifies El Niño/La Niña transport variability, and illustrates how the meridional overturning cell dominates ocean heat transport at 7.5°S.