Impacts of shortwave radiation forcing on ENSO: a study with a coupled tropical ocean-atmosphere model |
| |
Authors: | B Wang Z Fang |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Meteorology and IPRC School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA E-mail: bwang@soest.hawaii.edu, US |
| |
Abstract: | We describe a coupled tropical ocean-atmosphere model that represents a new class of models that fill the gap between anomaly
coupled models and fully coupled general circulation models. Both the atmosphere and ocean are described by two and half layer
primitive equation models, which emphasize the physical processes in the oceanic mixed layer and atmospheric boundary layer.
Ocean and atmosphere are coupled through both momentum and heat flux exchanges without explicit flux correction. The coupled
model, driven by solar radiation, reproduces a realistic annual cycle and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the presence
of annual mean shortwave radiation forcing, the model exhibits an intrinsic mode of ENSO. The oscillation period depends on
the mean forcing that determines the coupled mean state. A perpetual April (October) mean forcing prolongs (shortens) the
oscillation period through weakening (enhancing) the mean upwelling and mean vertical temperature gradients. The annual cycle
of the solar forcing is shown to have fundamental impacts on the behavior of ENSO cycles through establishing a coupled annual
cycle that interacts with the ENSO mode. Due to the annual cycle solar forcing, the single spectral peak of the intrinsic
ENSO mode becomes a double peak with a quasi-biennial and a low-frequency (4–5 years) component; the evolution of ENSO becomes
phase-locked to the annual cycle; and the amplitude and frequency of ENSO become variable on an interdecadal time scale due
to interactions of the mean state and the two ENSO components. The western Pacific monsoon (the annual shortwave radiation
forcing in the western Pacific) is primarily responsible for the generation of the two ENSO components. The annual march of
the eastern Pacific ITCZ tends to lock ENSO phases to the annual cycle. The model's deficiencies, limitations, and future
work are also discussed.
Received: 15 June 1999 / Accepted: 11 December 1999 |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|