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Rectified effects of tropical instability wave (TIW)‐induced atmospheric wind feedback in the tropical Pacific
Author(s) -
Zhang RongHua,
Busalacchi Antonio J.
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2007gl033028
Subject(s) - climatology , sea surface temperature , environmental science , wind stress , atmospheric model , geology , oceanography
Recent high‐resolution space‐based observations reveal significant two‐way air‐sea interactions associated with tropical instability waves (TIWs) in the tropical oceans. But in most large‐scale climate modeling studies, the atmospheric wind response to TIW‐induced sea surface temperature (SST TIW ) anomalies has not been taken into account realistically and thus the corresponding feedbacks to the ocean are not known. Here we apply a singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis to satellite data to derive an empirical model for the SST TIW induced wind stress ( τ TIW ) variability in the eastern tropical Pacific. The derived SST TIW ‐ τ TIW relationship is then nested into a basin‐scale ocean and a hybrid coupled ocean‐atmosphere model of the tropical Pacific to take into account the TIW‐induced wind‐SST coupling. It is demonstrated that TIW‐induced wind feedback to the ocean can have a rectified effect on large‐scale mean ocean state and interannual variability, with an asymmetric difference in SST (a cooling) and a significant modulation of ENSO amplitude.