How Different Wind Stress Patterns Affect the Tropical-Subtropical Circulations of the Upper Ocean

Abstract

An oceanic GCM is used to investigate the response of the tropical and subtropical thermocline circulation and structure to different wind stress patterns. Although the subtropical winds do not affect the transport or the speed of the Equatorial Undercurrent significantly, they do change the equatorial temperature field in the lower part of the equatorial thermocline significantly. A weaker subtropical wind curl causes a cooling of the subsurface equatorial region and, hence, an intensification of the equatorial thermocline. A weakening of the subtropical wind curl by a factor of 2 cools the equatorial lower thermocline water by 2°C.