On the Regulation of the Pacific Warm Pool Temperature (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781289289706)

In the tropical western Pacific, regions of the highest sea surface temperature (SST) and the largest cloud cover are found to have the largest surface heating, primarily due to the weak evaporative cooling associated with weak winds. This situation is in variance with the suggestions that the temperature in the Pacific warm pool is regulated either by the reduced solar heating due to an enhanced cloudiness or by the enhanced evaporative cooling due to an elevated SST. It is clear that an enhanced surface heating in an enhanced convection region is not sustainable and must be interrupted by variations in large-scale atmospheric circulation. As the deep convective regions shift away from regions of high SST due primarily to seasonal variation and secondarily to interannual variation of the large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation, both trade wind and evaporative cooling in the high SST region increase, leading to a reduction in SST. We conclude that the evaporative cooling associated with the seasonal and interannual variations of trade winds in the primary factor that prevent the warm pool SST from increasing to a value much higher than what is observed.

Author: Ming-Dah Chou
ISBN-10: 1289289700
ISBN-13: 9781289289706
Publisher: Bibliogov
Language: English
Published: 08/07/2013
Pages: 24
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.14lbs
Size: 9.69h x 7.44w x 0.05d