The investigation of the consequences of trying to blend tropical Pacific observations from the Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean (TAO) array into the dynamical framework of an intermediate coupled ocean–atmosphere model is continued. In a previous study it was found that the model dynamics, the prior estimates of uncertainty in the observations, and...
It is hypothesized that the circulation of the tropical Pacific Ocean and atmosphere satisfies the equations of a simple coupled model to within errors having specified covariances, and that the Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean array (TAO) measures the circulation to within errors also having specified covariances. This hypothesis is tested by finding...
A nonlinear 2½-layer reduced gravity primitive equations (PE) ocean model is used to assimilate sea surface
temperature (SST) data from the Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean (TAO) moored buoys in the tropical Pacific. The
aim of this project is to hindcast cool and warm events of this part of the ocean, on seasonal...
A new dataset synthesizes in situ and remote sensing observations from research ships deployed to the southeastern tropical Pacific stratocumulus region for 7 years in boreal fall. Surface meteorology, turbulent and radiative fluxes, aerosols, cloud properties, and rawinsonde profiles were measured on nine ship transects along 20°S from 75° to...
The tropical Pacific Ocean is a climatically important region, home to El Niño and the Southern Oscillation. The simulation of its climate remains a challenge for global coupled ocean–atmosphere models, which suffer large biases especially in reproducing the observed meridional asymmetry across the equator in sea surface temperature (SST) and...
Recent studies have found that equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variability may be influencing tropical Indian Ocean climate (Kucharski 2009, Wang 2009). Due to the economic and social impact of tropical cyclones, it is important to investigate how an Atlantic-Indian Ocean connection may be affecting tropical cyclone behavior in...
In late spring of 2010, the northern California Current (NCC) experienced a transition from El Niño to La Niña conditions resulting in anomalous distributions and concentrations within the ichthyoplankton community. We analyzed larval fish data collected during the four months before and after this transition and compared them to data...
Zonal and meridional Seasoar sections centered at 1°50’S, 156°06’E were repeated >30 times in three 20-day periods between November 13, 1992, and February 15, 1993. Both sections were 130 km long, and sampling depth was 0–280 m, with a vertical resolution of ~2 dbar (2 x 104 Pa) and a...
Numerical model and assimilation experiments were conducted in the tropical Pacific Ocean to obtain a better understanding of the processes that control the cold tongue surface mixed layer temperature balance during August 1999 to July 2004. The numerical model was first applied to test two hypotheses (asymmetric background currents and...