EGU26-17945, updated on 14 Mar 2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17945
EGU General Assembly 2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Oral |
Tuesday, 05 May, 09:45–09:55 (CEST) Room L2
Summer Westerly Wind Intensification Weakens Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Under Global Warming
3,- 1Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- 2Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, China
- 3Division of Earth and Climate Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- 4College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
- 5Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Since the 1950s, observations and climate models show an amplification of sea surface
temperature (SST) seasonal cycle in response to global warming over most of the global oceans except for the
Southern Ocean (SO), however the cause remains poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed observations,
ocean reanalysis, and a set of historical and abruptly quadrupled CO2 simulations from the Coupled Model
Intercomparison Project Phase 6 archive and found that the weakened SST seasonal cycle over the SO could be
mainly attributed to the intensification of summertime westerly winds. Under the historical warming, the
intensification of summertime westerly winds over the SO effectively deepens ocean mixed layer and damps
surface warming, but this effect is considerably weaker in winter, thus weakening the SST seasonal cycle. This
wind‐driven mechanism is further supported by our targeted coupled model experiments with the wind
intensification effects being removed.
How to cite: Zhang, Y., Chen, C., Hu, S., Wang, G., McMonigal, K., and Larson, S.: Summer Westerly Wind Intensification Weakens Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Under Global Warming, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17945, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17945, 2026.
