Seo, H., M. Jochum, R. Murtugudde and A. J. Miller, 2006:

Effect of ocean mesoscale variability on the mean state of tropical Atlantic climate.


Geophysical Research Letters,33, L09606, doi:10.1029/2005GL025651.

Abstract. A regional coupled ocean-atmospheric model is used to investigate the effect of oceanic mesoscale features on the mean climate of the tropical Atlantic. It is shown that, compared to a non-eddy resolving ocean model, resolving oceanic mesoscale variability leads to a cooler mean equatorial cold tongue and a cooler coastal upwelling zone. This changes the meridional SST gradient, and the resulting weaker low-level convergence reduces the mean of rainfall in the marine Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The reduced rainfall and the cooler coastal upwelling regions represent a clear improvement of the model solution.

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