Compiling Global Wind Fields from the NASA Scatterometer and Studying Their Relationship with Anomalous Warming in the Pacific

摘要

A successive correction method was employed to objectively interpolate 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. The interpolated wind fields were appleid to study the teleconnection of the 1997 El Nino. 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. NSCAT reveals that these three simultaneous anomalous warming are related to anomalous wind pattern.