The Response of Sea Temperature Interannual Variations to Sea Surface Wind Stress and Its Sensitivity Experiment

A Pacific general circulation model with higher resolution has been developed based on GFDL ocean model. Using this model the main characteristics on climate state, seasonal and interannual variations of Pacific upper sea temperature have been reproduced. Forcing the model with observed wind stresses from 1985 to 1995, the associated warm and cold events are simulated clearly. The sensitivity experiment reveals that the larger the successive westerly anomaly near the date line is, the more the warming in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific is. Its influences propagate and extend eastward and can reach the east coast of the Pacific in 5 months. The propagation speed doesn’t depend on the intensity of westerly stress anomaly.