Abstract
Abstract A global ocean circulation model, driven by observed interannual fluxes, is used to gain insight into how sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs, i.e., variations from the mean seasonal signal) in the tropical and subtropical Indian and Pacific Ocean are maintained and changed on interannual timescales. This is done by investigation of heat in the upper ocean at five selected sites and by comparison to observations based on expendable bathythermograph data and the TOGA/TAO moored buoys. A 6-yr simulation between 1985 and 1990 reveals that the model’s simulated interannual temperature variability in the upper 450 m of the ocean is in reasonable agreement with observations. However, the model overestimates the meridional extent and amplitude of SST variability in parts of the equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans. The problem is associated with the choice of heat flux boundary condition: the ratio of air humidity to saturated humidity over freshwater at SST in the latent heat flux term is independ...
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