Observations of Coupling between Surface Wind Stress and Sea Surface Temperature in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Chelton, Dudley B.; Esbensen, Steven K.; Schlax, Michael G.; Thum, Nicolai; Freilich, Michael H.; Wentz, F. J.; Gentemann, Chelle; McPhaden, Michael J.; Schopf, Paul S.

doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2001)014<1479:oocbsw>2.0.co;2

Cited by 441 publications

(489 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This is shown by the regression on the latter in Fig. 12, where the wind stress curl is positive when SST decreases crosswind and negative when SST increases crosswind (Chelton et al 2001;O'Neill et al 2010). A similar signal is found in the red noise regime, except that the wind stress curl is positive near the Gulf Stream, consistent with its northward shift.…”

Section: Oceanic Influence On the Atmospheric Circulation In The Oscisupporting

confidence: 63%

The Influence of the AMOC Variability on the Atmosphere in CCSM3

2013

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The influence of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) variability on the atmospheric circulation is investigated in a control simulation of the NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3), where the AMOC evolves from an oscillatory regime into a red noise regime. In the latter, an AMOC intensification is followed during winter by a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The atmospheric response is robust and controlled by AMOC-driven SST anomalies, which shift the heat release to the atmosphere northward near the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current. This alters the low-level atmospheric baroclinicity and shifts the maximum eddy growth northward, affecting the storm track and favoring a positive NAO. The AMOC influence is detected in the relation between seasonal upper-ocean heat content or SST anomalies and winter sea level pressure. In the oscillatory regime, no direct AMOC influence is detected in winter. However, an upper-ocean heat content anomaly resembling the AMOC footprint precedes a negative NAO. This opposite NAO polarity seems due to the southward shift of the Gulf Stream during AMOC intensification, displacing the maximum baroclinicity southward near the jet exit. As the mode has somewhat different patterns when using SST, the wintertime impact of the AMOC lacks robustness in this regime. However, none of the signals compares well with the observed influence of North Atlantic SST anomalies on the NAO because SST is dominated in CCSM3 by the meridional shifts of the Gulf Stream/ North Atlantic Current that covary with the AMOC. Hence, although there is some potential climate predictability in CCSM3, it is not realistic.

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Section: Oceanic Influence On the Atmospheric Circulation In The Oscisupporting

confidence: 63%

The Influence of the AMOC Variability on the Atmosphere in CCSM3

2013

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“…The ability to resolve the sharp SST gradients associated with the Gulf Stream significantly affected the large scale AGCM simulated rainfall. Maloney and Chelton (2006) examined the SST-wind stress coupling (Chelton et al 2001) …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of ocean model resolution on CCSM climate simulations

et al. 2012

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The current literature provides compelling evidence suggesting that an eddy-resolving (as opposed to eddy-permitting or eddy-parameterized) ocean component model will significantly impact the simulation of the large-scale climate, although this has not been fully tested to date in multi-decadal global coupled climate simulations. The purpose of this paper is to document how increased ocean model resolution impacts the simulation of large-scale climate variability. The model used for this study is the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 3.5 (CCSM3.5) -the forerunner to CCSM4. Two experiments are reported here. The first experiment (i.e., control) is a 155-year present-day climate simulation using a 0.5º atmosphere component (zonal resolution 0.625º meridional resolution 0.5º) coupled to ocean and sea-ice components with zonal resolution of 1.2º and meridional resolution varying from 0.27º at the equator to 0.54º in the mid-latitudes. The second simulation uses the same atmospheric model coupled to 0.1º ocean and sea-ice component models. The simulations are compared in terms of how the representation of smaller scale features in the time mean ocean circulation and ocean eddies impact the mean and variable climate. In terms of the global mean surface temperature, the enhanced ocean resolution leads to a ubiquitous surface warming of about 0.2 o C. The warming is largest in the Arctic and regions of strong ocean fronts and ocean eddy activity (i.e., Southern Ocean, western boundary currents). The Arctic warming is associated with significant losses of sea-ice in the high-resolution simulation. The SST gradients in the North Atlantic, in particular, are better resolved in the high-resolution model leading to significantly sharper temperature gradients and associated large-scale shifts in the rainfall. In the extra-tropics, the interannual sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) variability is increased with the resolved eddies, but decreases in the deep tropics (i.e., the variance of El Niño and the Southern Oscillation is reduced). Changes in global SSTA teleconnections and local air-sea feedback are also documented and show large changes in ocean-atmosphere coupling.3

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“…They are also stronger and last longer in the Pacific than the Atlantic Ocean due to the stronger equatorial current shear and density gradients in the Pacific [e.g., Chelton et al, 2000]. TIWs are important to ocean dynamics such as eddy-mean flow interaction and mixed-layer processes [e.g., Baturin and Niiler, 1997;Grodsky et al, 2005;Jochum and Murtugudde, 2006;Menkes et al, 2006;Kim et al, 2007], ocean-atmosphere interactions [Hayes et al, 1989;Xie et al, 1998;Liu et al, 2000;Chelton et al, 2001;Yu and Liu, 2003;Pezzi et al, 2004], and marine biogeochemistry [e.g., Feely et al, 1994;Strutton et al, 2001;McCain et al, 2002;Gorgues et al, 2005;Evans et al, 2009].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of salinity on tropical Atlantic instability waves

et al. 2014

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Sea surface salinity (SSS) data derived from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission are analyzed along with other satellite and in situ data to assess Aquarius' capability to detect tropical instability waves (TIWs) and eddies in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and to investigate the influence that SSS has on the variability. Aquarius data show that the magnitude of SSS anomalies associated with the Atlantic TIWs is 60.25 practical salinity unit, which is weaker than those in the Pacific by 50%. In the central equatorial Atlantic, SSS contribution to the mean meridional density gradient is similar to sea surface temperature (SST) contribution. Consequently, SSS is important to TIW-related surface density anomalies and perturbation potential energy (PPE). In this region, SSS influences surface PPE significantly through the direct effect and the indirect effect associated with SSS-SST covariability. Ignoring SSS effects would underestimate TIW-related PPE by approximately three times in the surface layer. SSS also regulates the seasonality of the TIWs. The borealspring peak of the PPE due to SSS leads that due to SST by about one month. Therefore, SSS not only affects the spatial structure, but the seasonal variability of the TIWs in the equatorial Atlantic. In the northeast Atlantic near the Amazon outflow and the North Brazil Current retroflection region and in the southeast Atlantic near the Congo River outflow, SSS accounts for 80-90% of the contribution to mean meridional density gradient. Not accounting for SSS effect would underestimate surface PPE in these regions by a factor of 10 and 4, respectively.

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Observations of Coupling between Surface Wind Stress and Sea Surface Temperature in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Cited by 441 publications

References 48 publications

The Influence of the AMOC Variability on the Atmosphere in CCSM3

The Influence of the AMOC Variability on the Atmosphere in CCSM3

Impact of ocean model resolution on CCSM climate simulations

The influence of salinity on tropical Atlantic instability waves

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