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Impact of the equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature on the tropical Pacific in a CGCM

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Abstract

Many coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) suffer from serious model bias in the zonal gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial Atlantic. The bias of the equatorial Atlantic SST (EASST) may affect the interannual variability of the equatorial Atlantic, which in turn may influence the state of the tropical Pacific. In this paper we investigate the impact of the bias and the interannual variability of the EASST on the tropical Pacific in a CGCM. To determine the impact of the interannual variability of the EASST on the tropical Pacific, we compare a run in a fully coupled mode (CTL run) and a run in which the EASST is nudged toward the climatological monthly mean of the SST in the CTL run, but full air-sea coupling is allowed elsewhere (AT_m run). We find that, when the interannual variability of the EASST is excluded, the thermocline depth in the eastern equatorial Pacific is deepened, and the amplitude of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation is reduced by 30 % compared to the CTL run. The impact of the bias of the EASST on the tropical Pacific is investigated by comparing the AT_m run and a run in which the EASST is nudged toward the observed climatological monthly mean SST (AT_o run). It is found that, when the bias of the EASST is removed (i.e. AT_o run), the Gill–Matsuno type response to the warm SST anomalies in the western equatorial Atlantic induces low-level cyclonic anomalies in the eastern South Pacific, which leads to a deeper thermocline and colder SST in the South Pacific as compared to AT_m. The colder SST in the South Pacific reduces the precipitation along the South Pacific convergence zone. Our results of the model experiments demonstrate the importance of the EASST to the tropical Pacific climate.

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Acknowledgments

All experiments were performed on the Earth Simulator 2. We thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments have led to a much improved manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Application Laboratory, Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25, Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

    Wataru Sasaki & Takeshi Doi

  2. Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

    Takeshi Doi & Yukio Masumoto

  3. International Pacific Research Center/SOEST, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Kelvin J. Richards

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yukio Masumoto

Authors
  1. Wataru Sasaki
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  2. Takeshi Doi
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  3. Kelvin J. Richards
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  4. Yukio Masumoto
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Correspondence to Wataru Sasaki.

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Sasaki, W., Doi, T., Richards, K.J. et al. Impact of the equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature on the tropical Pacific in a CGCM. Clim Dyn 43, 2539–2552 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2072-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2072-1

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