Compiling Global Wind Field from the NASA Scatterometer and Study Its Relation with Anomalous Warming in the Pacific

摘要

At the end of May 1997, three regions of anomalous warming in the North Pacific were observed. Positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies were found along the entire central and eastern equatorial Pacific, as part of a brewing El Nino. At the same time, SST anomalies were observed off the coast of Mexico and along the coast of the United States from northern California to Washington. It is speculated these three simultaneous anomalous warming are related to anomalous wind pattern. To understand the ocean surface wind pattern, a successive correction method was employed to objectively interpolated the ocean surface wind from the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT). The interpolation alleviates errors caused by the uneven satellite sampling while retaining the superior energy-content of the wind field. It is demonstrated that the interpolated wind field have more structures than those provided by operational numerical weather forecast, particularly in the equatorial Pacific where sharp changes in direction occur.