A local positive feedback of the tropical Pacific ocean-atmosphere system on interdecadal timescales

Autor: Yun Liu, Jianyin Liang, Chunhui Li, Dongxiao Wang, Dejun Gu
Rok vydání: 2006
Předmět:
Zdroj: Chinese Science Bulletin. 51:601-606
ISSN: 1861-9541
1001-6538
DOI: 10.1007/s11434-006-0601-y
Popis: Interdecadal variability characteristics of ocean-atmosphere interaction in the tropical areas are investigated by using atmospheric reanalysis data and oceanic dataset. Results indicate that due to the ocean-atmosphere system's internal adjustment on interdecadal time scales, the exchanges of latent heat and sensible heat between the ocean and atmosphere are reduced by means of weakening trade wind, causing oceanic thermocline anomalies and resulting in unusual warming of sea surface temperature in the central and eastern Pacific. Meanwhile the increases of sea surface temperature facilitate much more development of convection in the eastern Pacific and excite a local ascending motion in the eastern and anomalous westerlies in the central and eastern Pacific, which further weaken the Walker circulation, and vice versa. Thus these processes constitute an interdecadal mode of positive feedback. This interdecadal feedback of the tropical ocean-atmosphere system is different from the previous conclusion of a so-called midlatitude-driving mechanism, which was used to explain the decadal variability in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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