Nutrient trapping in the equatorial Pacific: The ocean circulation solution

Forecasting Ocean Chlorophyll in the Equatorial Pacific

Using a global ocean biogeochemical model combined with a forecast of physical oceanic and atmospheric variables from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, we assess the skill of a chlorophyll concentrations forecast in the Equatorial Pacific for the period 2012-2015 with a focus on the forecast of the onset of the 2015 El Niño event. Using a series of retrospective 9-month hindcast...

On the Annual Cycle of Upper-Ocean Circulation in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific

An oceanic general circulation model is used to investigate the annual cycle of the near-surface currents in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean; in particular, the causes of the springtime increase of eastward momentum that reverses the westward surface flow and intensifies the Equatorial Undercurrent are examined. A set of process experiments are carried out that isolates effects due to thre...

Drivers of the projected changes to the Pacific Ocean equatorial circulation

Ocean Circulation Influences on Sea Surface Temperature in the Equatorial Central Pacific

Velocity data from an array of acoustic Doppler current profilers moored about 0 , 140 W from May 1990 through June 1991 during the Tropical Instability Wave Experiment are used in conjunction with Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean array data and a blended sea surface temperature (SST) product to study the processes that control SST variations. The horizontal velocity data allow us to calculate the ver...

Long wave dynamics of the interannual variability in a numerical hindcast of the equatorial Pacific Ocean circulation during the 1990s

[1] A numerical hindcast of the Pacific Ocean circulation for the period of 1988–1998 is conducted to study the dynamics of interannual variations in the 1990s. The Poseidon quasi-isopycnal ocean model is forced with an SSMI-derived wind stress product and sea surface heat flux from an atmospheric mixed layer model. On the basis of a good comparison of the hindcast results with TAO mooring obse...