TROPICAL OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE INTERACTION, THE PACIFIC COLD-TONGUE, AND THE EL-NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION

The tropical Pacific basin allows strong feedbacks among the trade win ds, equatorial zonal sea surface temperature contrast, and upper ocean heat content. Coupled atmosphere-ocean dynamics produce both the stro ng Pacific cold tongue climate state and the El Nino-Southern Oscillat ion phenomenon. A simple paradigm of the tropical climate system is pr esented, capturing the basic physics of these two important aspects of the tropic Pacific and basic features of the climate states of the At lantic and Indian ocean basins.