The response of the upper-ocean temperatures and currents in the tropical Pacific to the spatial distribution of chlorophyll-a and its seasonal cycle is investigated using a coupled atmosphere-ocean model and a stand-alone oceanic general circulation model.The spatial distribution of chlorophyll-a significantly influences the mean state of models in the tropical Pacific.The annual mean SST in the eastern equatorial Pacific decreases accompanied by a shallow thermocline and stronger currents because of shallow penetration depth of solar radiation.Equatorial upwelling dominates the heat budget in that region.Atmosphere-ocean interaction processes can further amplify such changes. The seasonal cycle of chlorophyll-a can dramatically change ENSO period in the coupled model.After introducing the seasonal cycle of chlorophyll-a concentration,the peak of the power spectrum becomes broad,and longer periods(3 years) are found.These changes led to ENSO irregularities in the model. The increasing period is mainly due to the slow speed of Rossby waves,which are caused by the shallow mean thermocline in the northeastern Pacific.
By taking into consideration the effects of ocean surface wave-induced Stokes drift velocity Un, and current velocity Uc on the drag coefficient, the spatial distributions of drag coefficient and wind stress in 2004 are computed over the tropical and northern Pacific using an empirical drag coefficient parameterization formula based on wave steepness and wind speed. The global ocean current field is generated from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and the wave data are generated from Wavewatch Ill (WW3). The spatial variability of the drag coefficient and wind stress is analyzed. Preliminary results indicate that the ocean surface Stokes drift velocity and current velocity exert an important influence on the wind stress. The results also show that consideration of the effects of the ocean surface Stokes drift velocity and current velocity on the wind stress can significantly improve the modeling of ocean circulation and air-sea interaction processes.