Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: In the present study, the physical processes that control the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature in the tropical Atlantic Ocean are investigated. A high‐resolution ocean general circulation model is used to diagnose the various contributions to the mixed layer heat budget. The simulation reproduces the main features of the circulation and thermal structure of the tropical Atlantic. A close examination of the mixed layer heat budget is then undertaken. At a first order, the mixed layer temperature balance in the equatorial band results from cooling by vertical processes and heating by atmospheric heat fluxes and eddies (mainly tropical instability waves). Cooling by subsurface processes is the strongest in June–August, when easterlies are strong, with a second maximum in December. Heating by the atmosphere is maximum in February–March and September–October, whereas eddies are most active in boreal summer. Unlike previous observational studies, horizontal advection by low‐frequency currents plays here only a minor role in the heat budget. Off equator, the sea surface temperature variability is mainly governed by atmospheric forcing all year long, except in the northeastern part of the basin where strong eddies generated at the location of the thermal front significantly contribute to the heat budget in boreal summer. Finally, comparisons with previously published heat budgets calculated from observations show good qualitative agreement, except that subsurface processes dominate the cooling over zonal advection in the present study.
DOI: 10.1029/2005jc003157
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, Centre National d'Études Spatiales, Laboratoire d’Études en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2027806068