Tropical Pacific Variability in the NCAR Climate System Model

Abstract

A 300-yr simulation with the NCAR Climate System Model (CSM), version 1, captured only ∼60% of the observed ENSO signal and exaggerated the interannual variability of SST in the western tropical Pacific. Here, a simulation with a new version of the CSM, which significantly improves the spatial and temporal patterns of tropical Pacific variability, is described. Maximum SST variability is shifted to the central and eastern Pacific. A better simulation of the equatorial Pacific thermocline structure results in Niño-3 and Niño-4 statistics comparable to the observed estimates for the last century. The evolution of SST and subsurface temperature anomalies is in excellent agreement with observed events. The majority of events evolve as a standing mode with weak SST anomalies occurring in the northern spring in the eastern tropical Pacific and maximum anomalies covering the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean to the date line by the following northern winter. At the same time, subsurface temperature anomalies spread eastward and upward along the tropical thermocline. The “delayed oscillator” and Wyrtki's “buildup” hypothesis are consistent with aspects of the CSM simulation. On the equator, a westerly wind stress anomaly in the central Pacific forces off-equatorial upwelling anomalies, which propagate westward, reaching the western boundary about one-half year later. This upwelling signal then propagates eastward along the equator, arriving 2 months before cooling in the eastern Pacific basin. The tropical Pacific atmospheric response to warm oceanic events also agrees with observational analyses with a negative Southern Oscillation pattern in sea level pressure, wind stress anomalies, and low-level convergence to the west of the maximum SST anomalies and enhanced deep convection and precipitation in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.