Interaction between the Subtropical and Equatorial Ocean Circulations: The Subtropical Cell

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Abstract
Three versions of a 2 1/2-layer ocean model are used to study the subtropical cell (STC), a shallow, meridionalcirculation cell consisting of subtropical subduetion, equatorward advection of cool subsurface water into thetropics, upwelling at the equator, and poleward advection of warm surface water back to midlatitudes. Thethree versions are a steady-state analytic model, a numerical model with constant layer temperatures, and anumerical model with variable layer temperatures and active thermodynamics. Two different pammeterizationsof mixed-layer processes are utilized to determine how water moves between the lwo layers. In the simplerparameterization, entrainment and detrainment rates, we and wd, are specified so that the upper-layer thicknessh1 relaxes back to an externally prescribed thickness; in the other, they are related to the surface heat flux Q.in both versions detrainment is cut off at the latitude yd = 18° to prevent subduction from occurring in thetropics. Solutions are obtained in ... Abstract Three versions of a 2 1/2-layer ocean model are used to study the subtropical cell (STC), a shallow, meridionalcirculation cell consisting of subtropical subduetion, equatorward advection of cool subsurface water into thetropics, upwelling at the equator, and poleward advection of warm surface water back to midlatitudes. Thethree versions are a steady-state analytic model, a numerical model with constant layer temperatures, and anumerical model with variable layer temperatures and active thermodynamics. Two different pammeterizationsof mixed-layer processes are utilized to determine how water moves between the lwo layers. In the simplerparameterization, entrainment and detrainment rates, we and wd, are specified so that the upper-layer thicknessh1 relaxes back to an externally prescribed thickness; in the other, they are related to the surface heat flux Q.in both versions detrainment is cut off at the latitude yd = 18° to prevent subduction from occurring in thetropics. Solutions are obtained in ...

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