Temperature sampling equipment. Photo: Norwegian Polar Institute
Oceanic systems have a “longer memory” than atmospheric ones. Thus, a priori, it seems feasible to predict oceanic temperatures realistically and much further ahead than weather predictions. However, the predicting is complicated due to variations being governed by processes originating both externally and locally, which operate at different time scales. Thus, both slow-moving advective propagation and rapid barotropic responses resulting from large-scale changes in air pressure must be considered.
