Abstract

Abstract Three sets of numerical experiments based on a GFDL GCM were developed to investigate the response of the large-scale tropical circulation and precipitation to the tropical and equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Specified SST anomaly (SSTA) with a small latitudinal scale of 13.5° was imposed in different regions of the Pacific Ocean in different sets of experiments and added to the climate-mean August SST to form a lower boundary forcing. Each set is composed of two experiments in which the SSTA possesses the same coverage and intensity but opposite sign. Anomalies of meteorological fields are calculated as the differences between the results of the warm and cold SSTA experiments. In all experiments, prominent anomalous low-level convergence and high-level divergence are observed over the warm SSTA regions. For experiments with warm SSTA placed at the equator, responses of the tropical streamfunction are similar to corresponding results found in other studies. When the warm SSTA ...

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