Yusuke Takatani

Multidecadal trends of oxygen and their controlling factors in the western North Pacific

The rate of change of dissolved oxygen (O2) concentrations was analyzed over 1987–2011 for the high-frequency repeat section along 165°E in the western North Pacific. Significant trends toward decreasing O2 were detected in the northern subtropical to subtropical-subarctic transition zones over a broad range of isopycnal horizons. On 25.3σθ between 25°N and 30°N in North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water, the rate of O2 decrease reached −0.45 ± 0.16 µmol kg−1 yr−1. It is largely attributed to a deepening of isopycnal horizons and to a reduction in oxygen solubility associated with ocean warming. In North Pacific Intermediate Water, the rate of O2 decrease was elevated (−0.44 ± 0.14 µmol kg−1 yr−1 on 26.8σθ) and was associated with net increases in apparent oxygen utilization in the source waters. On 27.3σθ in the subtropical Oxygen Minimum Layer (OML) between 32.5°N and 35°N, the rate of O2 decrease was significant (−0.22 ± 0.05 µmol kg−1 yr−1). It was likely due to the increases in westward transport of low-oxygen water. These various drivers controlling changes in O2 along the 165°E section are the same as those acting along 137°E (analyzed previously) and also account for the differences in the rate of O2 decrease between these sections. Additionally, in the tropical OML near 26.8σθ between 5°N and 10°N, significant trends toward increasing O2 were detected in both sections (+0.36 ± 0.04 µmol kg−1 yr−1 in the 165°E section). These results demonstrate that warming and circulation changes are causing multidecadal changes in dissolved O2 over wide expanses of the western North Pacific.

Relationships between total alkalinity in surface water and sea surface dynamic height in the Pacific Ocean

Improved spatial and temporal representation of total alkalinity (TA) is expected to be an important component in monitoring changes in the oceanic carbon cycle and acidification over the coming decades. For this reason, previous authors have sought to develop and apply empirical methods to characterize TA in the surface ocean. However, there are regions such as the North Pacific that have proven difficult to successfully represent through empirical relationships based on temperature and salinity with linear regression. Here we propose a new empirical approach for reconstructing TA for the Pacific basin using sea surface salinity and sea surface dynamic height (SSDH). We propose five zones of the Pacific basin where the empirical relationships are applied separately. The root-mean-square error of the fittings of these equations to the measured TA is 7.8 μmol kg−1. The SSDH-based empirical equation helps especially to represent the TA in the North Pacific subtropical-subarctic frontal zone where salinity-normalized TA as well as other oceanographic variables exhibits a large meridional gradient and sizeable formation of Central Mode Water and Subtropical Mode Water occurs.

Fifty years of the 137°E repeat hydrographic section in the western North Pacific Ocean

The 137°E repeat hydrographic section of the Japan Meteorological Agency across the western North Pacific was initiated in 1967 as part of the Cooperative Study of the Kuroshio and Adjacent Regions and has been continued biannually in winter and summer. The publicly available data from the section have been widely used to reveal seasonal to decadal variations and long-term changes of currents and water masses, biogeochemical and biological properties, and marine pollutants in relation to climate variability such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary in 2016, this review summarizes the history and scientific achievements of the 137°E section during 1967–2016. Through the publication of more than 100 papers over this 50-year span, with the frequency and significance of the publication increasing in time, the 137°E section has demonstrated its importance for future investigations of physical–biogeochemical–biological interactions on various spatiotemporal scales, and thereby its utility in enhancing process understanding to aid projections of the impact of future climate change on ocean resources and ecosystems over the twenty-first century.