Using a 1.5-layer reduced-gravity nonlinear shallow-water equation model, we studied the effect of the meridional wind on the western boundary currents (WBC) at critical states with hysteresis courses. The results of the simulation indicate that the WBC is prone to penetrating into the gap under northerly winds, and its path is more difficult to alter due to the larger interval between the two critical transition curves (C1P and C1L). For southerly winds, the WBC is prone to leaping across the gap, and its path is easier to alter due to the smaller interval between the two critical transition curves. The simulation results also indicate that the meridional winds over the southern region of the gap are the dominant factor determining the formation of the WBC. The dynamic mechanism influencing the transport of WBC near the gap is both Ekman transport and the blocking of Ekman transport. Ekman transport induced by northerly winds may reduce the transport of the WBC, causing the β-effect to dominate the meridional advection (promoting the penetration). Southerly winds, however, may enhance the transport of the WBC, causing the meridional advection to dominate the β-effect (promoting the leaping state). These results explain some structural features of the Kuroshio at the Luzon Strait.
Lag correlations of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs), sea surface height anomalies (SSHAs), subsurface temperature anomalies, and surface zonal wind anomalies (SZWAs) produced by the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model: Grid-point Version 2 (FGOALS-g2) are analyzed and compared with observations. The insignificant, albeit positive, lag correlations between the SSTAs in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (STIO) in fall and the SSTAs in the central-eastern Pacific cold tongue in the following summer through fall are found to be not in agreement with the observational analysis. The model, however, does reproduce the significant lag correlations between the SSHAs in the STIO in fall and those in the cold tongue at the one-year time lag in the observations. These, along with the significant lag correlations between the SSTAs in the STIO in fall and the subsurface temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific vertical section in the following year, suggest that the Indonesian Throughflow plays an important role in propagating the Indian Ocean anomalies into the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Analyses of the interannual anomalies of the Indonesian Throughflow transport suggest that the FGOALS-g2 climate system simulates, but underestimates, the oceanic channel dynamics between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. FGOALS-g2 is shown to produce lag correlations between the SZWAs over the western equatorial Pacific in fall and the cold tongue SSTAs at the one-year time lag that are too strong to be realistic in comparison with observations. The analyses suggest that the atmospheric bridge over the Indo-Pacific Ocean is overestimated in the FGOALS-g2 coupled climate model.
