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Diurnal warming in the tropical Pacific and its interannual variability
Author(s) -
Clayson Carol Anne,
Weitlich Derrick
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl023786
Subject(s) - climatology , environmental science , sea surface temperature , global warming , walker circulation , effects of global warming on oceans , diurnal temperature variation , diurnal cycle , atmospheric sciences , climate change , oceanography , geology
Analyses of satellite‐derived diurnal sea surface warming of the equatorial Pacific basin from 1996 through 2000 indicate that there is, in addition to seasonal changes, an east‐west dipole. For roughly half the year, the western (eastern) Pacific experiences enhanced (decreased) diurnal warming: the opposite is true for the other six months. La Niña conditions in 1998 through 1999 affected the strength (but not the overall sign) of the dipole. Simple analyses using a comprehensive turbulent model indicate it is important to account for diurnal warming since the SST change over a day depends on the upper ocean changes due to diurnal warming. Since the tropical Pacific SST and east‐west SST gradient is of interest to ENSO processes, ocean models that do not incorporate diurnal warming may overestimate mixing‐induced cooling and the east‐west SST gradient.