Simulation of the Tropical Pacific Climate with a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere General Circulation Model. Part I: The Seasonal Cycle

Abstract

A multiyear simulation with a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model (GCM) is presented. The model consists of the UCLA global atmospheric GCM coupled to the GFDL oceanic GCM; the latter is dynamically active over the tropical Pacific, while climatological time-varying sea surface temperatures (SST) are prescribed elsewhere. The model successfully simulates the main climatological features associated with the seasonal cycle, including the east-west gradient in SST across the equatorial Pacific. The most apparent deficiencies include a systematic cold bias (?2 K) across most of the tropical Pacific and underestimated wind stress magnitudes in the equatorial band. Multichannel singular spectrum analysis is used to describe the multivariate structure of the seasonal cycle at the equator in both the model and observed data. The annual harmonic in equatorial SST is primarily wind driven, while air-sea interaction strongly affects the semiannual harmonic.