An Examination of the AGCM Simulated Surface Wind Stress and Low-Level Winds over the Tropical Pacific Ocean

1997 ◽  
Vol 125 (5) ◽  
pp. 985-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohua Huang ◽  
J. Shukla
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Tropical Pacific Ocean ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Surface Wind Stress ◽  
Simulated Surface ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

scholarly journals Atmosphere-ocean dynamics of persistent cold states of the tropical Pacific Ocean

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Richard Seager ◽  
Naomi Henderson ◽  
Mark Cane ◽  
Honghai Zhang ◽  
Jennifer Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Dynamical Response ◽  
Thermocline Depth ◽  
Tropical Pacific Ocean ◽  
Flux Divergence ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractPersistent multiyear cold states of the tropical Pacific Ocean drive hydroclimate anomalies worldwide, including persistent droughts in the extratropical Americas. Here, the atmosphere and ocean dynamics and thermodynamics of multiyear cold states of the tropical Pacific Ocean are investigated using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalyses and simplified models of the ocean and atmosphere. The cold states are maintained by anomalous ocean heat flux divergence and damped by increased surface heat flux from the atmosphere to ocean. The anomalous ocean heat flux divergence is contributed to by both changes in the ocean circulation and thermal structure. The keys are an anomalously shallow thermocline that enhances cooling by upwelling and anomalous westward equatorial currents that enhance cold advection. The thermocline depth anomalies are shown to be a response to equatorial wind stress anomalies. The wind stress anomalies are shown to be a simple dynamical response to equatorial SST anomalies as mediated by precipitation anomalies. The cold states are fundamentally maintained by atmosphere-ocean coupling in the equatorial Pacific. The physical processes that maintain the cold states are well approximated by linear dynamics for ocean and atmosphere and simple thermodynamics.

scholarly journals Rectification of El Niño–Southern Oscillation into Climate Anomalies of Decadal and Longer Time Scales: Results from Forced Ocean GCM Experiments

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 2545-2561 ◽  
Author(s):  
De-Zheng Sun ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Yan Sun ◽  
Yongqiang Yu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Surface Wind Stress ◽  
Interannual Fluctuations ◽  
Mean State ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract To better understand the causes of climate change in the tropical Pacific on the decadal and longer time scales, the rectification effect of ENSO events is delineated by contrasting the time-mean state of two forced ocean GCM experiments. In one of them, the long-term mean surface wind stress of 1950–2011 is applied, while in the other, the surface wind stress used is the long-term mean surface wind stress of 1950–2011 plus the interannual monthly anomalies over the period. Thus, the long-term means of the surface wind stress in the two runs are identical. The two experiments also use the same relaxation boundary conditions, that is, the SST is restored to the same prescribed values. The two runs, however, are found to yield significantly different mean climate for the tropical Pacific. The mean state of the run with interannual fluctuations in the surface winds is found to have a cooler warm pool, warmer thermocline water, and warmer eastern surface Pacific than the run without interannual fluctuations in the surface winds. The warming of the eastern Pacific has a pattern that resembles the observed decadal warming. In particular, the pattern features an off-equator maximum as the observed decadal warming. The spatial pattern of the time-mean upper-ocean temperature differences between the two experiments is shown to resemble that of the differences in the nonlinear dynamic heating, underscoring the role of the nonlinear ocean dynamics in the rectification. The study strengthens the suggestion that rectification of ENSO can be a viable mechanism for climate change of decadal and longer time scales.

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