赤道太平洋冷舌的春季海表面稳定冷偏差和最小风引起的混合

Spring Cold Bias of SST and Minimal Wind Mixing in the Equatorial Pacific Cold Tongue

The authors investigate the relationship between bias in simulated sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial eastern Pacific cold tongue during the boreal spring as simulated by an oceanic general circulation model (OGCM) and minimal wind mixing (MWM) at the surface. The cold bias of simulated SST is greatest during the boreal spring, at approximately 3°C. A sensitivity experiment reducing MWM by one order of magnitude greatly alleviates cold biases, especially in March-April. The decrease in bias is primarily due to weakened vertical mixing, which preserves heat in the uppermost layer and results in warmer simulated SST. The reduction in vertical mixing also leads to a weak westward current in the upper layer, which further contributes to warmer SST estimates. These findings imply that there are large uncertainties about simple model parameters such as MWM at the oceanic surface.