Mechanisms of Tropical Climate Change: Observations and Model Comparison

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Past studies indicate that tropical paleoclimatology is influenced by the seasonality of solar insolation due to the precession of the equinox and by extratropical boundary conditions. However, the mechanisms by which tropical climate is influenced are not well understood. This award supports a study with three main objectives: 1. to understand, using ocean models, the Sensitivity of the Upper Ocean to changes in boundary conditions (insolation and winds, and extratropical conditions); 2. to predict past wind fields from Observations of Past Upper Ocean Changes, such as thermocline structure changes; and 3. to Compare Observations with Realistic Model Runs of past times in order to understand the physical link between changes in tropical winds and observed upper ocean circulation. Comparisons between the response of the two oceans to the same external forcing will be used to further elucidate mechanisms of tropical climate change.