Properties of long equatorial waves in models of the seasonal cycle in the tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

In general circulation models of the seasonal cycle, westward propagating waves, with an approximate wavelength of 1000 km and period of 3 to 4 weeks, in the western equatorial Atlantic and eastern equatorial Pacific derive their energy from the kinetic and potential energy of the mean flow. There is intense downwelling in the cold crests of the wave and upwelling in the warm troughs. The local meridional heat flux associated with the waves is of the order of 100 W m −2 , but their contribution to the net heat transport across the equator is small. The waves are highly nonstationary in time and inhomogeneous in space.