Testing model simulations of the thermocline depth variability in the tropical Atlantic from 1982 through 1984

Abstract

The multivariate model testing procedure of Frankignoul et al. has been extended to the general time-series case, thus allowing to test ocean model ability at simulating the interannual variability. The method aims at distinguishing between model inadequacies and data uncertainties; model performances are assessed from a misfit evaluated in a space of strongly reduced dimension with basis vectors issued from a double application of common principal component analysis. The testing procedure has been used to investigate the ability of Cane's linear multimode model at simulating the evolution of the 20°C isotherm depth in the equatorial Atlantic during the 1982-1984 FOCAL/SEQUAL experiment. -from Authors