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Tropical Eastern Pacific Climate, Biases, and Sensitivities

Tropical Eastern Pacific Climate, Biases, and Sensitivities

Simon de Szoeke
International Pacific Research Center

Many coupled models have difficulty faithfully reproducing the seasonal cycle and meridional distribution of precipitation in the tropical eastern Pacific. Coupled general circulation model simulations of the 20th century climate for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) are compared amongst each other and with the IPRC Regional Ocean-Atmosphere Model (IROAM). Simple metrics of the seasonal-meridional distribution of sea surface temperature (SST) and precipitation are introduced. IROAM and a few AR4 simulations reproduce the observed northward-displaced intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and seasonal cycle. Experiments with IROAM show that shallow cumulus and drizzle parameterizations have an effect on the meridional distribution of SST, precipitation, and equatorial wind.