Equatorial upwelling calculated from QuikSCAT winds in the eastern Pacific

Quikscat winds have been used to calculate upwelling circulation in a number of meridional sections in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The calculation is based on a simple frictional theory that extends the midlatitude Ekman model to include the equatorial region. The singularity at the equator in the classical model is removed by considering the effects of stratification. Inputs to the model include, besides wind stress, a diagnostic specification of the thermocline. The upwelling circulation transitions smoothly from being driven by wind stress curl off the equator to being driven by wind stress divergence at the equator. The resulting circulation cells will be compared to features of the circulation, such as the equatorial cold tongue, as inferred from microwave measurements of SST by the TRMM Microwave Imager.

NOTE: This abstract is for the special session on Air-sea Interaction Studies Using Satellite Observations