Local versus farfield control on South Pacific Subantarctic mode water variability

Abstract. In the South Pacific Subantarctic mode water (SAMW) formation region, central and eastern pools of SAMW have been found to be linked to winter mixed-layer thicknesses that vary strongly interannually and out of phase across the basin. This mixed-layer variability is associated with peaks in sea level pressure variability at a quasi-stationary anomaly situated between the two pools. To investigate how surface forcing, as well as the propagation of upstream anomalies, affects the formation of these SAMW pools, a set of adjoint sensitivity experiments with a density-following feature are conducted. Adjoint sensitivities reveal local cooling can lead to an increase in SAMW pool volume through mixed-layer depth changes and the lateral movement of the northern boundary of the pool. In addition, upstream warming along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current can lead to an increase in SAMW pool volume through lateral density surface movement shifting the southern boundary polewards. The density properties are advected from upstream to the downstream pool over one year. Optimal conditions for SAMW formation involve a combination of local cooling and upstream warming of SAMW formation sites. Hence, South Pacific SAMW variability is particularly sensitive to atmospheric modes which lead to a dipole in heating across the formation sites.