Time-mean response over the tropical Pacific to increased CO₂ in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model

The time-mean response over the tropical Pacific region to a quadrupling of CO₂ is investigated using a global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model. Tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) rise by about 4°-5°C. The zonal SST gradient along the equator decreases by about 20%, although it takes about one century for this change to become clearly evident in the model. Over the central equatorial Pacific, the decreased SST gradient is accompanied by similar decreases in the easterly wind stress and westward ocean surface currents and by a local maximum in precipitation increase. -from Authors