Variability of the subtropical mode water in the Southwest Pacific

Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (2017)

Subtropical Mode Water (STMW) contains a history of ocean‐atmosphere interactions influencing the variability of the upper ocean circulation. We investigated the variability of STMW in the Southwest Pacific using 28 years of data from a bathythermograph north of New Zealand, and 10 years of data from Argo floats. We suggest that large volumes of STMW are coincident with cooler conditions in the prior winter and less oceanic heat storage. The variability of the winter EAUC transport is highly correlated with the STMW inventories and thermocline depth in the following spring, suggesting ocean dynamics deepen the thermocline and precondition for deeper mixed layers.