Abstract
Abstract The authors have examined a numerical simulation of the tropical Atlantic Ocean circulation forced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) surface wind stress during 1980–88. The mean state and annual cycle of the ocean are realistically simulated by the model. The simulated interannual variability of sea surface temperature (SST) is also remarkably consistent with the observations, particularly the observed patterns of the basinwide warm/cold periods and the variation of dipole pattern and the associated meridional SST gradient. Discrepancies between observed and simulated SST anomalies are large early in the simulation, which seems caused by errors in the ECMWF wind analysis during that period. The low-frequency fluctuations of the meridional SST gradient associated with the dipole pattern during 1980–88 were caused by opposite SST anomalies between hemispheres, forced by out of phase fluctuations of the trade winds. Specifically, the southeast trade winds were anomalo...
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