Control of tropical instability waves in the Pacific

Abstract

Westward‐propagating waves with periods of 20–30 days and wavelengths of ∼ 1,100km are a prominent feature of sea‐surface temperatures (SSTs) in the equatorial Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They have been attributed to instabilities due to current shear. We compare SST observations from the spaceborne Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) and TOGA‐TAO moored buoys with SSTs from a model of the tropical Pacific forced with observed daily windstress data. The phases of the strongest “Tropical Instability Waves” (TIWs) in the model are in closer correspondence with those observed than we would expect if these waves simply developed from infinitesimal disturbances (in which case their phases would be arbitrary). If we filter out the intraseasonal component of the windstress, all phase‐correspondence is lost. We conclude that the phases of these waves are not arbitrary, but partially determined by the intraseasonal winds. The subsurface evolution of the model suggests a possible control mechanism is through interaction with remotely‐forced subsurface Kelvin and Rossby waves. This is supported by an experiment which shows how zonal wind bursts in the west Pacific can modify the TIW field, but other mechanisms, such as local feedbacks, are also possible.