On the coupled response to anomalous Ekman advection of surface temperature

Recent analyses of ocean hindcasts, coupled models, and observations of North Pacific decadal variability suggest heat advection by Ekman currents to be important. To investigate the possible role of this perturbation of the oceanic mixed layer heat budget on atmospheric variability, temperature advection by anomalous Ekman currents is implemented in the extra-tropics of an oceanic mixed-layer atmospheric general circulation model. Integrations with and without oceanic Ekman advection are compared. The perturbation of the heat budget by the Ekman advection is balanced primarily by the latent heat flux, with some effect on atmospheric precipitation. Ekman advection shifts the leading mode of SST variability, with maximum loadings in the north-west Pacific, in a south-easterly direction, in accordance with observed variability. The atmospheric responses to these perturbations of SST will be explored.