US D.O.C. / NOAA / OAR / ERL / PMEL / 1998 Science Review

Heat Balance in the Western Equatoral Pacific During COARE IOP

Cronin, M.F. and M. J. McPhaden, The upper ocean heat balance in the western equatorial Pacific during September-December 1992. J. Geophys. Res., 102, 8533-8553, 1997.
 

Hourly data at 0o,156oE and daily subsurface temperature data from nearby moorings were used to evaluate nearly all terms in the surface heat balance. Variability in the net surface heat flux was the primary process responsible for SST variations. However, zonal advection was an important secondary process.

 

Seasonal Heat Balance across the Equatoral Pacific

Wang and McPhaden, The surface layer heat balance in the equatorial Pacific ocean, Part I: Mean seasonal cycle. summitted to J. Phys. Oceanogr. 1998.
 

Multi-year time series from Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) buoys, and from Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) were used to evaluate the seasonal heat balance at 4 locations across the equatorial Pacific: in the western (165oE), central (170oW), and eastern (140oW and 110oW) Pacific. This analysis helps place the regional COARE heat balances into a framework of the basin-scale variability.

 

Interannual Heat Balance across the Equatoral Pacific

Wang and McPhaden, The surface layer heat balance in the equatorial Pacific ocean, Part II: Interannual variability., in prep.

• The net surface heat flux cannot account for the interannual SST change, but works as a negative feedback to damp the SST signal in the equatorial Pacific.

• Zonal heat advection and vertical turbulent heat flux are responsible for the SST warming during El Nino in the central and eastern Pacific.

Meghan F. Cronin Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory 7600 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115 USA

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