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Effect of ocean mesoscale variability on the mean state of tropical Atlantic climate
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC)/DOAS, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA
A regional coupled ocean-atmospheric model is used to investigate the effect of oceanic mesoscale features on the mean climate of the tropical Atlantic. It is shown that, compared to a non-eddy resolving ocean model, resolving oceanic mesoscale variability leads to a cooler mean equatorial cold tongue and a cooler coastal upwelling zone. This changes the meridional SST gradient, and the resulting weaker low-level convergence reduces the mean of rainfall in the marine Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The reduced rainfall and the cooler coastal upwelling regions represent a clear improvement of the model solution.
Received 29 December 2005; accepted 31 March 2006; published 9 May 2006.
Citation: (2006), Effect of ocean mesoscale variability on the mean state of tropical Atlantic climate, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L09606, doi:10.1029/2005GL025651.
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