Modulation of the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Seasonal Cycle by Tropical Instability Waves

Maillard, L.; Boucharel, J.; Stuecker, M. F.; Jin, F.‐F.; Renault, L.

doi:10.1029/2022gl100991

i

Modulation of the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Seasonal Cycle by Tropical Instability Waves

Supporting Files

2022
By: Maillard, L. ; Boucharel, J. ; Stuecker, M. F.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters, 49(23)

Details

Journal Title:

Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Maillard, L. ; Boucharel, J. ; Stuecker, M. F. ; Jin, F.‐F. ; Renault, L.
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Description:

Feedbacks from tropical instability waves (TIWs) on the seasonal cycle of the eastern Pacific Ocean are studied using two eddy‐rich ocean simulations, with and without TIWs. By warming the equatorial waters by up to 0.4°C through nonlinear advection in boreal summer and fall, TIWs reduce the amplitude of the seasonal cycle in upper ocean temperatures. In addition, TIWs stabilize the upper part of the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) through enhanced barotropic energy conversion, leading to a year‐round weakening by −0.15 m s−1 and preventing an unrealistic re‐intensification in boreal fall usually found in non‐eddy resolving models. A coarser simulation at 1‐degree horizontal resolution fails to reproduce the TIW‐induced nonlinear warming of equatorial waters, but succeeds in inhibiting the EUC re‐intensification. This suggests a threshold effect in TIW strength, associated with the model's ability to simulate eddies, which may be responsible for long‐standing biases displayed by global climate models in this region.
Keywords:
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Geophysics
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 49(23)
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl100991
ISSN:

0094-8276 ; 1944-8007
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA20OAR4310445
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/58245/noaa_58245_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 1.10 MB]
Collection(s):

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:5d69e9b937984db4266b19145cea37ac68be0046d30b8b7e42e2ed3c81077e83

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