Diagnosing sea-surface temperature dynamics from stochastically-forced fluctuations
Presenter
October 13, 2014
Abstract
Thomas Haine
Johns Hopkins University
We quantify the transport of sea surface temperature (SST) from SST fluctuations. Previous studies have estimated the advective transport of SST from time-lag correlation of SST anomalies. However, this approach does not consider diffusive SST transport or relaxation to atmospheric temperatures. To quantify the transport more completely we use a response function (Green's function) which solves the SST continuity equation for an impulsive forcing. The response function is estimated from SST anomalies using a fluctuation-dissipation approach. Decomposing the linear operator into symmetric, anti-symmetric, and divergent operators enables estimates of the model's spatially dependent velocity vector, diffusivity tensor, and relaxation rate.