Model-Based Estimates of Equatorial Pacific Wind Stress

Abstract

Abstract A Pacific basin version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory ocean model is used to compare and modify wind stress fields derived from uncoupled simulations of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA) Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM). In an earlier study it was found that a zonal wind stress empirically derived from the zonal wind at the top of the boundary layer in the AGCM produces a better simulation than the AGCM zonal surface stress without any modifications. In addition, the statistically derived model wind stress gives ocean model simulations of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) that are superior to simulations with the wind stress calculated from the Florida State University (FSU) pseudo stress. However, even with the statistical derived model wind stress, it is shown that the SSTA simulation in the eastern Pacific is particularly poor. In an attempt to improve the simulation in the eastern Pacific, an iterative procedure that modifies the zonal wind st...