ON THE INSTABILITY OF TROPICAL WESTERN PACIFIC WARM POOL DURING THE BOREAL WINTER AND SPRING

Conference · Mon Mar 23 04:00:00 EST 1998

OSTI ID:755023

BARR-KUMARAKULASINGHE, S A ^[1]

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1. BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

A source of instability in the western Pacific warm pool is shown to be due to sea surface elevation variations caused by changes in the zonal sea-surface temperature (SST) gradient and the changes in the Pacific Ocean basin length in relation to the warm pool latitudinal location. The variation of the sea-surface elevation is measured by using the thermocline depth response calculated from a two-layer ocean. The warm pool is shown to be barely at equilibrium during the boreal late winter and early spring by comparing the measured thermocline at 110{degree}W, 0{degree}E with the calculated thermocline depth. Based on this analysis, a failure or reversal of the climatological zonal winds are apparently not a necessary precursor for the instability of the warm pool and initiation of a warm event. A warm event can be initiated by an increase in the size of the warm pool and/or an increase in zonal SST differences during the boreal/winter spring. This mechanism could be an alternate mechanism for El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dynamics to that postulated by Bjeknes (1969).

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research (ER) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-98CH10886
• OSTI ID: 755023
• Report Number(s): BNL--66878; KP120103; KP120103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
INSTABILITY
OCEANOGRAPHY
PACIFIC OCEAN
PRECURSOR
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SOUTHERN OSCILLATION