Open AccessSurface fluxes and their influence on sea surface temperature in the western equatorial Pacific during the Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment
Author(s) -
Zhang Shuliang,
Plueddemann Albert J.,
Anderson Steven P.,
Weller Robert A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/1999jc900313
Subject(s) - climatology , environmental science , sea surface temperature , advection , shortwave radiation , forcing (mathematics) , atmosphere (unit) , flux (metallurgy) , precipitation , satellite , atmospheric sciences , shortwave , western hemisphere warm pool , geology , meteorology , radiative transfer , radiation , geography , physics , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , thermodynamics , aerospace engineering , engineering
Surface fluxes in the western equatorial Pacific warm pool region and their influence on sea surface temperature (SST) variability were investigated for the period November 15, 1992, to February 15, 1993, during the Intensive Observing Period of the Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE). A blended flux data set was developed using a “reanalysis” of surface meteorology from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), turbulent flux components from the COARE bulk flux algorithm, and shortwave radiation and precipitation estimates from satellite remote sensing. Comparison with in situ fluxes from the center of the warm pool showed that the blended fluxes captured variability associated with the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) while the fluxes produced by ECMWF did not. The influence of surface forcing on SST was assessed by comparing the observed SST tendency to that produced by a one‐dimensional model forced by the blended fluxes. On the ISO timescale, SST changes in a substantial portion of the warm pool were found to be dominated by local surface forcing, although significant contributions from other processes (e.g., horizontal advection) were not ruled out. The results emphasize the fact that high‐quality surface fluxes are essential to developing accurate predictions of SST variability in the warm pool region.