Direct observations of skin-bulk SST variability

Internal Variability of Indian Ocean SST

A 40-yr integration of an eddy-resolving numerical model of the tropical Indian Ocean is analyzed to quantify the interannual variability that is caused by the internal variability of ocean dynamics. It is found that along the equator in the western Indian Ocean internal variability contributes significantly to the observed interannual variability. This suggests that in this location the predic...

SST subseasonal variability in the central Benguela upwelling system as inferred from satellite observations (1999-2009)

Enhanced MJO-like Variability at High SST

The authors report a significant increase in Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO)–like variability in a superparameterized version of the NCARCommunity AtmosphereModel run with high sea surface temperatures (SSTs). A series of aquaplanet simulations exhibit a tripling of intraseasonal outgoing longwave radiation variance as equatorial SST is increased from 268 to 358C. The simulated intraseasonal va...

A Global View of Non-Gaussian SST Variability

The skewness and kurtosis of daily sea surface temperature (SST) variations are found to be strongly linked at most locations around the globe in a new high-resolution observational dataset, and are analyzed in terms of a simple stochastically forced mixed layer ocean model. The predictions of the analytic theory are in remarkably good agreement with observations, strongly suggesting that a uni...

North Atlantic Multidecadal SST Oscillation: External forcing versus internal variability