The evaluation of Westerly Wind Bursts in CMIP5 models

KOU Jian-qiao

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2018.03.002

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Journal of Marine Sciences ›› 2018, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (3) : 17-27. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2018.03.002

The evaluation of Westerly Wind Bursts in CMIP5 models

KOU Jian-qiao^1,2

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Abstract

Equatorial Westerly Wind Bursts (WWBs) are characterized by sudden increase of surface westerlies over the equatorial region. Previous studies showed that the WWBs play a fundamental role in triggering and maintaining the El Niño event. In this thesis, we evaluate the simulation of WWBs in the state-of-the-art models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase5(CMIP5). Most of the models can reproduce the eastward propagation of WWBs in El Niño years, as occurrences of WWBs are strongly dependent on sea surface temperature in the tropical western-central Pacific. The WWBs generally occurs before the development of El Niño. Unlike what was proposed in previous studies, we found that MJO does not significantly increase the likelihood of WWBs in both observations and model simulations.

Key words

WWBs / tropical Pacific / ENSO / MJO / CMIP5

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KOU Jian-qiao. The evaluation of Westerly Wind Bursts in CMIP5 models[J]. Journal of Marine Sciences. 2018, 36(3): 17-27 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2018.03.002

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