FastFind »   Lastname: doi:10.1029/ Year: | Advanced Search  

AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • tropical instability wave
  • ENSO
  • interannual variability

Index Terms

  • Oceanography: General: Climate and interannual variability
  • Oceanography: General: Equatorial oceanography
  • Oceanography: Physical: Air/sea interactions
  • Oceanography: Physical: Currents
  • Oceanography: Physical: ENSO

Abstract

Interannual variations of tropical instability waves observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

Qiaoyan Wu

Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Kenneth P. Bowman

Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Eight years of microwave data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite are used to study the interannual variations of tropical instability waves (TIWs) in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. SST signatures of TIWs in the Pacific Ocean are strongest during the cold phase of ENSO, when the cold tongue is most pronounced. The waves are weak during the warm phase of ENSO. A low-frequency Atlantic air-sea coupled equatorial mode affects TIW activity in the Atlantic in a similar fashion. Interannual variations in sea-surface temperatures due to TIW activity can produce interannual variations in the atmospheric mesoscale response.

Received 16 February 2007; accepted 3 April 2007; published 3 May 2007.

Citation: Wu, Q., and K. P. Bowman (2007), Interannual variations of tropical instability waves observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L09701, doi:10.1029/2007GL029719.

Cited By

Please wait one moment ...