Impact of Lateral Mixing in the Ocean on El Nino in a Suite of Fully Coupled Climate Models

Gnanadesikan, Anand; Russell, Alexandria; Pradal, Marie‐Aude; Abernathey, Ryan

doi:10.1002/2017MS000917

Title: Impact of Lateral Mixing in the Ocean on El Nino in a Suite of Fully Coupled Climate Models

Journal Article · Fri Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017MS000917· OSTI ID:1408245

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Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Johns Hopkins University Baltimore MD USA
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Columbia University New York NY USA

Abstract We examine the dependence of the amplitude of the El Nino‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the mixing coefficient parameterizing the lateral mixing of tracers (A _Redi ) The value of this coefficient is very uncertain, ranging in Earth System Models between a few hundred and a few thousand m ² s ⁻¹ , with some observational estimates showing even higher values. A suite of simulations is made with two spatially varying distributions of A _Redi derived from satellite observations as well as four simulations where a spatially constant A _Redi is varied over a factor of 6. Surprisingly, larger values of A _Redi result in stronger ENSO variability despite the higher mixing coefficients producing more efficient lateral diffusive damping of anomalies. This is because lateral mixing also warms the cold tongue, increasing vertical temperature gradients and decreasing horizontal temperature gradients. Larger vertical temperature gradients make sea surface temperatures more responsive to atmospheric forcing, while smaller horizontal temperature gradients shift the location of convection and make the atmosphere more responsive to sea surface temperature anomalies. The last effect holds across simulations as well as within individual simulations and thus also helps to explain interdecadal variability in ENSO amplitude. By contrast, a previously proposed anticorrelation between the amplitude interannual and annual variability does not hold across simulations, although it does hold within simulations. The propagation of thermocline depth anomalies is relatively insensitive to the value of A _Redi . Properly specifying the lateral mixing along the equator (including distinguishing the impacts of subgridscale turbulence and tropical instability waves) appears essential to simulating ENSO.

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Research Organization:: Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0007066

OSTI ID:: 1408245

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1408248; OSTI ID: 1511478

Journal Information:: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Journal Name: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems Vol. 9 Journal Issue: 7; ISSN 1942-2466

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 12 works

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