'''This product has been archived'''                For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The ibi_omi_tempsal_sst_trend product includes the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) trend for the Iberia-Biscay-Irish Seas over the period 1993-2019, i.e. the rate of change (°C/year). This OMI is derived from the CMEMS REP ATL L4 SST product (SST_ATL_SST_L4_REP_OBSERVATIONS_010_026), see e.g. the OMI QUID, http://marine.copernicus.eu/documents/QUID/CMEMS-OMI-QUID-ATL-SST.pdf), which provided the SSTs used to compute the SST trend over the Iberia-Biscay-Irish Seas. This reprocessed product consists of daily (nighttime) interpolated 0.05° grid resolution SST maps built from the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) (Merchant et al., 2019) and Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) initiatives. Trend analysis has been performed by using the X-11 seasonal adjustment procedure (see e.g. Pezzulli et al., 2005), which has the effect of filtering the input SST time series acting as a low bandpass filter for interannual variations. Mann-Kendall test and Sens’s method (Sen 1968) were applied to assess whether there was a monotonic upward or downward trend and to estimate the slope of the trend and its 95% confidence interval. '''CONTEXT''' Sea surface temperature (SST) is a key climate variable since it deeply contributes in regulating climate and its variability (Deser et al., 2010). SST is then essential to monitor and characterise the state of the global climate system (GCOS 2010). Long-term SST variability, from interannual to (multi-)decadal timescales, provides insight into the slow variations/changes in SST, i.e. the temperature trend (e.g., Pezzulli et al., 2005). In addition, on shorter timescales, SST anomalies become an essential indicator for extreme events, as e.g. marine heatwaves (Hobday et al., 2018). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Over the period 1993-2021, the Iberia-Biscay-Irish Seas mean Sea Surface Temperature (SST) increased at a rate of 0.011 ± 0.001 °C/Year. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00257

'''This product has been archived''' For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The time series are derived from the regional chlorophyll reprocessed (REP) product as distributed by CMEMS. This dataset, derived from multi-sensor (SeaStar-SeaWiFS, AQUA-MODIS, NOAA20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS, Envisat-MERIS and Sentinel3A-OLCI) Rrs spectra produced by CNR using an in-house processing chain, is obtained by means of the Mediterranean Ocean Colour regional algorithms: an updated version of the MedOC4 (Case 1 (off-shore) waters, Volpe et al., 2019, with new coefficients) and AD4 (Case 2 (coastal) waters, Berthon and Zibordi, 2004). The processing chain and the techniques used for algorithms merging are detailed in Colella et al. (2021). Monthly regional mean values are calculated by performing the average of 2D monthly mean (weighted by pixel area) over the region of interest. The deseasonalized time series is obtained by applying the X-11 seasonal adjustment methodology on the original time series as described in Colella et al. (2016), and then the Mann-Kendall test (Mann, 1945; Kendall, 1975) and Sens’s method (Sen, 1968) are subsequently applied to obtain the magnitude of trend. '''CONTEXT''' Phytoplankton and chlorophyll concentration as a proxy for phytoplankton respond rapidly to changes in environmental conditions, such as light, temperature, nutrients and mixing (Colella et al. 2016). The character of the response depends on the nature of the change drivers, and ranges from seasonal cycles to decadal oscillations (Basterretxea et al. 2018). Therefore, it is of critical importance to monitor chlorophyll concentration at multiple temporal and spatial scales, in order to be able to separate potential long-term climate signals from natural variability in the short term. In particular, phytoplankton in the Mediterranean Sea is known to respond to climate variability associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (Basterretxea et al. 2018, Colella et al. 2016). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' In the Mediterranean Sea, the trend average for the 1997-2020 period is slightly negative (-0.580.62% per year). Due to the change in processing techniques and chlorophyll retrieval, this trend estimate cannot be compared directly to those previously reported. The observations time series (in grey) shows minima values have been quite constant until 2015 and then there is a little decrease up to 2020, when an absolute minimum occurs with values lower than 0.04 mg m-3. Throughout the time series, maxima are variable year by year (with absolute maximum in 2015, >0.14 mg m-3), showing an evident reduction since 2016. In the last years of the series, the decrease of chlorophyll concentrations is also observed in the deseasonalized timeseries (in green) with a marked step in 2020. This attenuation of chlorophyll values in the last years results in an overall negative trend for the Mediterranean Sea. Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00259

'''This product has been archived''' For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The time series are derived from the regional chlorophyll reprocessed (REP) products as distributed by CMEMS which, in turn, result from the application of the regional chlorophyll algorithms over remote sensing reflectances (Rrs) provided by the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (ESA OC-CCI, Sathyendranath et al. 2019; Jackson 2020). Daily regional mean values are calculated by performing the average (weighted by pixel area) over the region of interest. A fixed annual cycle is extracted from the original signal, using the Census-I method as described in Vantrepotte et al. (2009). The deasonalised time series is derived by subtracting the mean seasonal cycle from the original time series, and then fitted to a linear regression to, finally, obtain the linear trend. '''CONTEXT''' Phytoplankton – and chlorophyll concentration as a proxy for phytoplankton – respond rapidly to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, light and nutrients availability, and mixing. The response in the North Atlantic ranges from cyclical to decadal oscillations (Henson et al., 2009); it is therefore of critical importance to monitor chlorophyll concentration at multiple temporal and spatial scales, in order to be able to separate potential long-term climate signals from natural variability in the short term. In particular, phytoplankton in the North Atlantic are known to respond to climate variability associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), with the initiation of the spring bloom showing a nominal correlation with sea surface temperature and the NAO index (Zhai et al., 2013). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' While the overall trend average for the 1997-2020 period in the North Atlantic Ocean is slightly positive (0.92 ± 0.13 % per year), an underlying low frequency harmonic signal can be seen in the deseasonalised data. The annual average for the region in 2020 is 0.31 mg m-3. Though no appreciable changes in the timing of the spring and autumn blooms have been observed during 2020, these reached higher chlorophyll values than the average for the time series. In particular, the spring bloom maximum in 2020, circa 0.80 mg m-3, showed an increase in chlorophyll concentration from the observations during the 2016-2019 spring blooms. Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00194

'''This product has been archived'''                For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The ocean monitoring indicator on regional mean sea level is derived from the DUACS delayed-time (DT-2021 version) altimeter gridded maps of sea level anomalies based on a stable number of altimeters (two) in the satellite constellation. These products are distributed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Copernicus Marine Service (SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_CLIMATE_L4_MY_008_057). The mean sea level evolution estimated in the Irish-Biscay-Iberian (IBI) region is derived from the average of the gridded sea level maps weighted by the cosine of the latitude. The annual and semi-annual periodic signals are removed (least square fit of sinusoidal function) and the time series is low-pass filtered (175 days cut-off). The curve is corrected for the regional mean effect of the Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) using the ICE5G-VM2 GIA model (Peltier, 2004). During 1993-1998, the Global men sea level (hereafter GMSL) has been known to be affected by a TOPEX-A instrumental drift (WCRP Global Sea Level Budget Group, 2018; Legeais et al., 2020). This drift led to overestimate the trend of the GMSL during the first 6 years of the altimetry record (about 0.04 mm/y at global scale over the whole altimeter period). A correction of the drift is proposed for the Global mean sea level (Legeais et al., 2020). Whereas this TOPEX-A instrumental drift should also affect the regional mean sea level (hereafter RMSL) trend estimation, currently this empirical correction is currently not applied to the altimeter sea level dataset and resulting estimated for RMSL. Indeed, the pertinence of the global correction applied at regional scale has not been demonstrated yet and there is no clear consensus achieved on the way to proceed at regional scale. Additionally, the estimation of such a correction at regional scale is not obvious, especially in areas where few accurate independent measurements (e.g. in situ)- necessary for this estimation - are available. The trend uncertainty is provided in a 90% confidence interval (Prandi et al., 2021). This estimate only considers errors related to the altimeter observation system (i.e., orbit determination errors, geophysical correction errors and inter-mission bias correction errors). The presence of the interannual signal can strongly influence the trend estimation considering to the altimeter period considered (Wang et al., 2021; Cazenave et al., 2014). The uncertainty linked to this effect is not taken into account. '''CONTEXT''' The indicator on area averaged sea level is a crucial index of climate change, and individual components contribute to sea level rise, including expansion due to ocean warming and melting of glaciers and ice sheets (WCRP Global Sea Level Budget Group, 2018). According to the recent IPCC 6th assessment report, global mean sea level (GMSL) increased by 0.20 (0.15 to 0.25) m over the period 1901 to 2018 with a rate 25 of rise that has accelerated since the 1960s to 3.7 (3.2 to 4.2) mm yr-1 for the period 2006–2018. Human activity was very likely the main driver of observed GMSL rise since 1970 (IPCC WGII, 2021). The weight of the different contributions evolves with time and in the recent decades the mass change has increased, contributing to the on-going acceleration of the GMSL trend (IPCC, 2022a; Legeais et al., 2020; Horwath et al., 2022). At regional scale, sea level does not change homogenously, and RMSL rise can also be influenced by various other processes, with different spatial and temporal scales, such as local ocean dynamic, atmospheric forcing, Earth gravity and vertical land motion changes (IPCC WGI, 2021). Rising sea level can strongly affect population and infrastructures in coastal areas, increase their vulnerability and risks for food security, particularly in low lying areas and island states. Adverse impacts from floods, storms and tropical cyclones with related losses and damages have increased due to sea level rise, and increase their vulnerability and increase risks for food security, particularly in low lying areas and island states (IPCC, 2022b). Adaptation and mitigation measures such as the restoration of mangroves and coastal wetlands, reduce the risks from sea level rise (IPCC, 2022c). In IBI region, the RMSL trend is modulated by decadal variations. As observed over the global ocean, the main actors of the long-term RMSL trend are associated with anthropogenic global/regional warming. Decadal variability is mainly linked to the strengthening or weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) (e.g. Chafik et al., 2019). The latest is driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) (e.g. Delworth and Zeng, 2016). Along the European coast, the NAO also influences the along-slope winds dynamic which in return significantly contributes to the local sea level variability observed (Chafik et al., 2019). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Over the [1993/01/01, 2021/08/02] period, the basin-wide RMSL in the IBI area rises at a rate of 3.8  0.82 mm/year. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00252

'''DEFINITION''' The temporal evolution of thermosteric sea level in an ocean layer (here: 0-700m) is obtained from an integration of temperature driven ocean density variations, which are subtracted from a reference climatology (here 1993-2014) to obtain the fluctuations from an average field. The annual mean thermosteric sea level of the year 2017 is substracted from a reference climatology (1993-2014) at each grid point to obtain a global map of thermosteric sea level anomalies in the year 2017, expressed in millimeters per year (mm/yr). '''CONTEXT''' Most of the interannual variability and trends in regional sea level is caused by changes in steric sea level (Oppenheimer et al., 2019). At mid and low latitudes, the steric sea level signal is essentially due to temperature changes, i.e. the thermosteric effect (Stammer et al., 2013, Meyssignac et al., 2016). Salinity changes play only a local role. Regional trends of thermosteric sea level can be significantly larger compared to their globally averaged versions (Storto et al., 2018). Except for shallow shelf sea and high latitudes (> 60° latitude), regional thermosteric sea level variations are mostly related to ocean circulation changes, in particular in the tropics where the sea level variations and trends are the most intense over the last two decades. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Higher-than-average thermosteric sea level is reported over most areas of the global ocean and the European regional seas in 2018. In some areas – e.g. the western boundary current regions of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean in both hemispheres reach values of more than 0.2 m. There are two areas of lower-than-average thermosteric sea level, which stand out from the generally higher-than-average conditions: the western tropical Pacific, and the subpolar North Atlantic. The latter is linked to the so called “North Atlantic cold event” which persists since a couple of years (Dubois et al., 2018). However, its signature has significantly reduced compared to preceding years.

'''This product has been archived'''                For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The ocean monitoring indicator on mean sea level is derived from the DUACS delayed-time (DT-2021 version) altimeter gridded maps of sea level anomalies based on a stable number of altimeters (two) in the satellite constellation. These products are distributed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and are also available in the Copernicus Marine Service catalogue (SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_CLIMATE_L4_MY_008_057). The mean sea level evolution estimated in the global ocean (hereafter GMSL) is derived from the average of the gridded sea level maps weighted by the cosine of the latitude. The annual and semi-annual periodic signals are removed (least scare fit of sinusoidal function) and the time series is low-pass filtered (175 days cut-off). The time series is corrected for the effect of the Glacial Isostatic Adjustment using the ICE5G-VM2 GIA model (Peltier, 2004). During 1993-1998, the GMSL has been known to be affected by a TOPEX-A instrumental drift (WCRP Global Sea Level Budget Group, 2018; Legeais et al., 2020). This drift led to overestimate the trend of the GMSL during the first 6 years of the altimetry record. Accounting for this correction changes the shape of the time series, which is no more linear but quadratic, indicating mean sea level acceleration during the altimetry era. The trend uncertainty is provided in a 90% confidence interval (Prandi et al., 2021). This estimate only considers errors related to the altimeter observation system (i.e., orbit determination errors, geophysical correction errors and inter-mission bias correction errors). The presence of the interannual signal can strongly influence the trend estimation considering to the altimeter period considered (Wang et al., 2021; Cazenave et al., 2014). The uncertainty linked to this effect is not taken into account. '''CONTEXT''' The indicator on area averaged sea level is a crucial index of climate change, and individual components contribute to sea level rise, including expansion due to ocean warming and melting of glaciers and ice sheets (WCRP Global Sea Level Budget Group, 2018). According to the recent IPCC 6th assessment report, global mean sea level (GMSL) increased by 0.20 (0.15 to 0.25) m over the period 1901 to 2018 with a rate 25 of rise that has accelerated since the 1960s to 3.7 (3.2 to 4.2) mm yr-1 for the period 2006–2018. Human activity was very likely the main driver of observed GMSL rise since 1970 (IPCC WGII, 2021). The weight of the different contributions evolves with time and in the recent decades the mass change has increased, contributing to the on-going acceleration of the GMSL trend (IPCC, 2022a; Legeais et al., 2020; Horwath et al., 2022). Rising sea level can strongly affect population and infrastructures in coastal areas, increase their vulnerability and risks for food security, particularly in low lying areas and island states. Adverse impacts from floods, storms and tropical cyclones with related losses and damages have increased due to sea level rise, and increase their vulnerability, and increase risks for food security, particularly in low lying areas and island states (IPCC, 2022b). Adaptation and mitigation measures such as the restoration of mangroves and coastal wetlands, reduce the risks from sea level rise (IPCC, 2022c). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Over the [1993/01/01, 2021/08/02] period, global mean sea level rises at a rate of 3.3  0.4 mm/year. This trend estimation is based on the altimeter measurements corrected from the Topex-A drift at the beginning of the time series (Legeais et al., 2020) and global GIA (Peltier, 2004). The observed global trend agrees with other recent estimates (Oppenheimer et al., 2019; IPCC WGI, 2021). '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00237

'''DEFINITION''' The temporal evolution of thermosteric sea level in an ocean layer (here: 0-700m) is obtained from an integration of temperature driven ocean density variations, which are subtracted from a reference climatology (here 1993-2014) to obtain the fluctuations from an average field. The regional thermosteric sea level values from 1993 to close to real time are then averaged from 60°S-60°N aiming to monitor interannual to long term global sea level variations caused by temperature driven ocean volume changes through thermal expansion as expressed in meters (m). '''CONTEXT''' The global mean sea level is reflecting changes in the Earth’s climate system in response to natural and anthropogenic forcing factors such as ocean warming, land ice mass loss and changes in water storage in continental river basins (IPCC, 2019). Thermosteric sea-level variations result from temperature related density changes in sea water associated with volume expansion and contraction (Storto et al., 2018). Global thermosteric sea level rise caused by ocean warming is known as one of the major drivers of contemporary global mean sea level rise (WCRP, 2018). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Since the year 1993 the upper (0-700m) near-global (60°S-60°N) thermosteric sea level rises at a rate of 1.5±0.1 mm/year.

'''DEFINITION''' The global annual chlorophyll anomaly is computed by subtracting a reference climatology (1997-2014) from the annual chlorophyll mean, on a pixel-by-pixel basis and in log10 space. Both the annual mean and the climatology are computed employing ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (ESA OC-CCI, Sathyendranath et al., 2018a) global products (i.e. using the standard OC-CCI chlorophyll algorithms, OCI) as distributed by CMEMS. '''CONTEXT''' Phytoplankton – and chlorophyll concentration as a proxy for phytoplankton – respond rapidly to changes in their physical environment. Some of those changes are seasonal and are determined by light and nutrient availability (Racault et al., 2012). By comparing annual mean values to a climatology, we effectively remove the seasonal signal, while retaining information on potential events during the year. Chlorophyll anomalies can be correlated to climate indexes in particular regions, such as the ENSO index in the equatorial Pacific (Behrenfeld et al. 2006; Racault et al., 2012) and the IOD index in the Indian Ocean (Brewin et al., 2012). It is important to study chlorophyll anomalies in consonance with sea surface temperature and sea level anomalies, as increases in chlorophyll are generally consistent with decreases in SST and sea level anomalies, suggesting an increase in mixing and vertical nutrient transport (von Schuckmann et al., 2016). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' The average global chlorophyll anomaly 2019 is -0.02 log10(mg m-3), with a maximum value of 1.7 log10(mg m-3) and a minimum value of -3.2 log10(mg m-3). That is to say that, in average, the annual 2019 mean value is slightly lower (96%) than the 1997-2014 climatological value. The positive signals reported in 2016 and 2017 (Sathyendranath et al., 2018b) in the southern Pacific Ocean could still be observed in the 2019 map, while the significant negative anomalies in the tropical waters of the northern Pacific Ocean were also detected to a lesser extent. Areas showing a change of anomaly sign from 2019 include the southern coast of Japan (no anomaly to positive) and the tropical Atlantic (anomalies close to zero for 2019). A marked increase in chlorophyll concentration was observed during 2019 in the Great Australian Bight, while negative anomalies became stronger in the Guatemala Basin and the region south of the Gulf of Guinea and, with values of chlorophyll reaching as low as 30% of the climatological value (anomaly < -0.5 log10(mg m-3)). The persistent positive anomalies in the higher latitudes of the North Atlantic (> 40°) match the cooling observed in the 2018 and previous years SST anomaly maps.

'''This product has been archived'''                For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The ocean monitoring indicator of regional mean sea level is derived from the DUACS delayed-time (DT-2021 version) altimeter gridded maps of sea level anomalies based on a stable number of altimeters (two) in the satellite constellation. These products are distributed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Copernicus Marine Service (SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_CLIMATE_L4_MY_008_057). The mean sea level evolution estimated in the Mediterranean Sea is derived from the average of the gridded sea level maps weighted by the cosine of the latitude. The annual and semi-annual periodic signals are removed (least square fit of sinusoidal function) and the time series is low-pass filtered (175 days cut-off). The curve is corrected for the regional mean effect of the Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) using the ICE5G-VM2 GIA model (Peltier, 2004). During 1993-1998, the Global men sea level (hereafter GMSL) has been known to be affected by a TOPEX-A instrumental drift (WCRP Global Sea Level Budget Group, 2018; Legeais et al., 2020). This drift led to overestimate the trend of the GMSL during the first 6 years of the altimetry record (about 0.04 mm/y at global scale over the whole altimeter period). A correction of the drift is proposed for the Global mean sea level (Legeais et al., 2020). Whereas this TOPEX-A instrumental drift should also affect the regional mean sea level (hereafter RMSL) trend estimation, this empirical correction is currently not applied to the altimeter sea level dataset and resulting estimated for RMSL. Indeed, the pertinence of the global correction applied at regional scale has not been demonstrated yet and there is no clear consensus achieved on the way to proceed at regional scale. Additionally, the estimate of such a correction at regional scale is not obvious, especially in areas where few accurate independent measurements (e.g. in situ)- necessary for this estimation - are available. The trend uncertainty is provided in a 90% confidence interval (Prandi et al., 2021). This estimate only considers errors related to the altimeter observation system (i.e., orbit determination errors, geophysical correction errors and inter-mission bias correction errors). The presence of the interannual signal can strongly influence the trend estimation considering to the altimeter period considered (Wang et al., 2021; Cazenave et al., 2014). The uncertainty linked to this effect is not taken into account. '''CONTEXT''' The indicator on area averaged sea level is a crucial index of climate change, and individual components contribute to sea level rise, including expansion due to ocean warming and melting of glaciers and ice sheets (WCRP Global Sea Level Budget Group, 2018). According to the recent IPCC 6th assessment report, global mean sea level (GMSL) increased by 0.20 (0.15 to 0.25) m over the period 1901 to 2018 with a rate 25 of rise that has accelerated since the 1960s to 3.7 (3.2 to 4.2) mm yr-1 for the period 2006–2018. Human activity was very likely the main driver of observed GMSL rise since 1970 (IPCC WGII, 2021). The weight of the different contributions evolves with time and in the recent decades the mass change has increased, contributing to the on-going acceleration of the GMSL trend (IPCC, 2022a; Legeais et al., 2020; Horwath et al., 2022). At regional scale, sea level does not change homogenously, and RMSL rise can also be influenced by various other processes, with different spatial and temporal scales, such as local ocean dynamic, atmospheric forcing, Earth gravity and vertical land motion changes (IPCC WGI, 2021). Rising sea level can strongly affect population and infrastructures in coastal areas, increase their vulnerability and risks for food security, particularly in low lying areas and island states. Adverse impacts from floods, storms and tropical cyclones with related losses and damages have increased due to sea level rise, and increase their vulnerability and increase risks for food security, particularly in low lying areas and island states (IPCC, 2022b). Adaptation and mitigation measures such as the restoration of mangroves and coastal wetlands, reduce the risks from sea level rise (IPCC, 2022c). Beside a clear long-term trend, the regional mean sea level variation in the Mediterranean Sea shows an important interannual variability, with a high trend observed before 1999 and lower values afterward. This variability is associated with a variation of the different forcing. Steric effect has been the most important forcing before 1999 (Fenoglio-Marc, 2002; Vigo et al., 2005). Important change of the deep-water formation site also occurred in 1995. The latest is preconditioned by an important change of the sea surface circulation observed in the Ionian Sea in 1997-1998 (e.g. Gačić et al., 2011), under the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and negative Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) phases (Incarbona et al., 2016). They may also impact the sea level trend in the basin (Vigo et al., 2005). In 2010-2011, high regional mean sea level has been related to enhanced water mass exchange at Gibraltar, under the influence of wind forcing during the negative phase of NAO (Landerer and Volkov, 2013). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Over the [1993/01/01, 2021/08/02] period, the basin-wide RMSL in the Mediterranean Sea rises at a rate of 2.7  0.83 mm/year. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00264

'''This product has been archived'''                For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The indicator of the Kuroshio extension phase variations is based on the standardized high frequency altimeter Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE) averaged in the area 142-149°E and 32-37°N and computed from the DUACS (https://duacs.cls.fr) delayed-time (reprocessed version DT-2021, CMEMS SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_L4_MY_008_047) and near real-time (CMEMS SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_L4_NRT_OBSERVATIONS_008_046) altimeter sea level gridded products. The change in the reprocessed version (previously DT-2018) and the extension of the mean value of the EKE (now 27 years, previously 20 years) induce some slight changes not impacting the general variability of the Kuroshio extension (correlation coefficient of 0.988 for the total period, 0.994 for the delayed time period only). '''CONTEXT''' The long-term mean and trends alone do not give a complete view of the likely changes in position of unstable western boundary current extensions (Kelly et al., 2010). The Kuroshio Extension is an eastward-flowing current in the subtropical western North Pacific after the Kuroshio separates from the coast of Japan at 35°N, 140°E. Being the extension of a wind-driven western boundary current, the Kuroshio Extension is characterized by a strong variability and is rich in large-amplitude meanders and energetic eddies (Niiler et al., 2003; Qiu, 2003, 2002). The Kuroshio Extension region has the largest sea surface height variability on sub-annual and decadal time scales in the extratropical North Pacific Ocean (Jayne et al., 2009; Qiu and Chen, 2010, 2005). Prediction and monitoring of the path of the Kuroshio are of huge importance for local economies as the position of the Kuroshio extension strongly determines the regions where phytoplankton and hence fish are located. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' The different states of the Kuroshio extension phase have been presented and validated by Bessières et al. (2013) and further reported by Drévillon et al. (2018) in the Copernicus Ocean State Report #2. Two rather different states of the Kuroshio extension are observed: an ‘elongated state’ (also called ‘strong state’) corresponding to a narrow strong steady jet, and a ‘contracted state’ (also called ‘weak state’) in which the jet is weaker and more unsteady, spreading on a wider latitudinal band. When the Kuroshio Extension jet is in a contracted (elongated) state, the upstream Kuroshio Extension path tends to become more (less) variable and regional eddy kinetic energy level tends to be higher (lower). In between these two opposite phases, the Kuroshio extension jet has many intermediate states of transition and presents either progressively weakening or strengthening trends. In 2018, the indicator reveals an elongated state followed by a weakening neutral phase since then. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00222