With the advent of the new generation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, it has become possible to resolve fine-scale features on the sea surface on the scale of meters. The proper identification of sea surface signatures in SAR imagery can be challenging, since some features may be due to atmospheric distortions (gravity waves, squall lines) or anthropogenic influences (slicks), and...

Changes in surface wind stress can have a strong influence on the ocean circulation and, hence, on climate. Our focus here is on variations of tropical winds and their impact on the global mean surface temperature (GMST) on time scales from months to decades. The smallness of Coriolis parameter near the equator implies that even small changes in the local winds can translate into large changes ...

O ne of the best-known hydrographic features of the midlatitude oceans is “Sub-Tropical Mode Water” (“STMW”), an upper-ocean water mass characterized by homogeneous properties and extending, in wintertime, to a depth of some 400 m. Mode waters were first observed over 130 yr ago by Thomson (1877). Since these pioneering observations, they have been found in all midlatitude gyres and adjacent to...

Using the climate model MIROC4m, we simulate self-sustained oscillations of millennial-scale periodicity in and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation under glacial conditions. We show two cases extreme climatic precession examine mechanism these oscillations. When corresponds to strong (weak) boreal seasonality, period oscillation is about 1,500 (3,000) years. During stadial, hot (cool) s...

conference came at a time of increasing political and scientific confidence in the role of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions in changing global temperatures. The most recent (2007) report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2) states that climate change is now " unequivocal " , based on increasing evidence from global average air and ocean temperatures, melting of snow and ic...

D ow Dominant climatic factors controlling the lifetime peak intensity of typhoons are determined from six decades of Pacific typhoon data. We find that upper ocean temperatures in the low-latitude northwestern Pacific (LLNWP) and sea surface temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific control the seasonal average lifetime peak intensity by setting the rate and duration of typhoon intensific...

Mangroves occur along the coastlines throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, supporting a wide variety of resources and services. In order to understand the responses of future climate change on this ecosystem, we need to know how mangrove species have responded to climate changes in the recent past. This study aims at exploring the climatic influences on the radial growth of Heritiera fomes fr...

Analyses of instrumental data demonstrate robust linkages between decadal-scale North Pacific and tropical Indo-Pacific climatic variability. These linkages encompass common regime shifts, including the noteworthy 1976 transition in Pacific climate. However, information on Pacific decadal variability and the tropical high-latitude climate connection is limited prior to the twentieth century. He...

Climate is one of the main drivers of species distribution. However, as different environmental factors tend to co-vary, the effect of climate cannot be taken at face value, as it may be either inflated or obscured by other correlated factors. We used the favourability models of four species (Alytes dickhilleni, Vipera latasti, Aquila fasciata and Capra pyrenaica) inhabiting Spanish mountains a...

Dominant climatic factors controlling the lifetime peak intensity of typhoons are determined from six decades of Pacific typhoon data. We find that upper ocean temperatures in the low-latitude northwestern Pacific (LLNWP) and sea surface temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific control the seasonal average lifetime peak intensity by setting the rate and duration of typhoon intensification...