Mechanisms involved in the tropical Atlantic variability

We study the climatic variability that take place in the tropical Atlantic at different time scales (seasonal, interannual and interdecadal) both whith a dinamical model and observed data. We analize the ways in which the anomalies of the climate system in this region are produced. As it is not possible to have the observed subsurface oceanic fields neither the time span required for studying the decadal variability, we have analyzed 200 years of output data from a global simulation with a coupled ocean-atmosphere model (ECHAM4-OPYC3). The use of the 'heat content' shows us at least four different situations that originate the warming events at the gulf of Guinea. The contribution of different terms to the heat budget in those cases are analyzed. We study the seasonal dependence of the warmings as well as the decadal evolution of their amplitude and frecuency.