Abstract
The heat budget is analyzed in the surface–layer (0–50 m) Pacific of the equatorial band (10°S–10°N), using the simulation of an ocean general circulation model from 1945 to 1993. The analysis indicates that downward net surface heat flux from the atmosphere and ocean advective heat fluxes play distinct roles in seasonal and interannual variabilities of surface–layer ocean temperature. The surface heat flux dominantly determines the ocean temperature in the seasonal time–scale. But, it has a negative feedback to the ocean temperature in the interannual time–scale. The interannual variability of ocean temperature is largely associated with the cold advection from off-equatorial divergent flow in the central Pacific and from upwelling in the cold tongue. Both the surface heat flux and ocean advective heat fluxes are important to the ocean temperature during an El Niño event. The ocean advective heat fluxes are further associated with local westward trade wind in the central Pacific. These results are largely consistent with some regional observational analyses.
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Huang, B., Liu, Z. An OGCM simulation of seasonal and interannual variabilities in the surface–layer pacific of the equatorial band. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 19, 219–235 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-002-0018-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-002-0018-8