Posted by Randy Watts on November 07, 2000 at 19:06:35:
In Reply to: 4. Sverdrup wind curl vs obs posted by Randy Watts on November 07, 2000 at 09:51:00:
: 4. Your Fig 7 emphasizes the smallness of range of observed transport,
: by comparing to the seasonal variation of Sverdrup wind-curl
: transport. Note, however, that this treats the wind curl signal
: AS IF the Pacific Ocean could instantaneously adjust to the Sverdrup wind
: curl. The theory in Gill's text or in Anderson
: and Gill's model in the Atlantic shows that the effect at the
: western boundary current transport from a mid-ocean change in
: wind-curl arrives at the WB by planetary waves -- i.e., delayed
: by as much as several years.
: Hence, a more "fair" comparison would be against the seasonal
: variation of WBC transport in a model that has about the right
: stratification (for good planetary wave speed) and basin size and
: seasonal wind variations.
BE SURE TO READ the Zhang,Johns,& Lee poster in
this session -- their DISCUSSION page. The seasonal
wind-driven variation in transport down at 24N seems
to be pretty well modeled in POP. Of course up at
the ASUKA line you've got complicated bathymetric
ridges etc to the east, but regardless, you should
not compare to the instantaneously-adjusted
Sverdrup transport.