Miller, A. J., 1996:

Recent advances in California Current modeling:
Decadal and interannual thermocline variations



California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports, 37, 69-79.

Abstract. Some recent advances in large-scale modeling of the California Current and its interaction with basin-scale circulation and forcing are summarized. The discussion concentrates on a decadal-scale change and interannual-scale variations identified in the thermocline off the California Coast. The western-intensified decadal-scale change is part of a basin-wide change in the North Pacific thermocline from the early 1970s to the early 1980s which has been observed and modeled. The decadal change is driven by a basin-scale change in wind-stress curl (Ekman pumping) and is associated with a deepening of the thermocline off California but no significant change in the strength of the California Current. Interannual variations of the thermocline off the California Coast which tend to be associated with ENSO have also been observed and modeled. High resolution models often exhibit a coastal-trapped Kelvin-like wave arriving from the equatorial zone but even a coarse resolution model can capture aspects of the midlatitude wind-forced thermocline signals that propagate westward on ENSO time scales.

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