A simple tropical atmosphere model of relevance to short-term climate variations

Abstract

The tropical atmosphere model presented here is suitable for modeling both the annual cycle and short-term (monthly to decadal time scale) climate fluctuations in sole response to the thermal forcing from the underlying surface, especially the ocean surface. The thermal contrast between oceans and continents is shown to have a profound influence on the circulation near landmasses. The large SST gradients in the subtropics play an important role in forcing rotational and cross-isobaric winds. -from Authors