Abstract

Temperature and salinity from the upper 200 m of the water column in the South Pacific Ocean were compared basin-wide along 32°30′S between 1992 and 2003, based on two vertically and horizontally high-resolution hydrographic repeat-sections involving 227 station pairs. Additionally, the seasonal cycles of the upper water column temperature and salinity between 90-140°W and 30.5-34.5°S were established utilizing 1540 ARGO profiles from 2003 to 2007; these were related to the hydrographic sections. Furthermore, South Pacific sea surface temperature trends from 1992 to 2003 were addressed. The surface waters (0-200 m) of the eastern South Pacific Ocean, on average and seasonally adjusted, were clearly fresher by 0.1 in 2003. The seasonally adjusted, depth-integrated temperature was 0.25°C colder in the same region. We relate the observed temperature and salinity changes to a spin-up of the subtropical gyre circulation caused by intensified wind stress. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.