@article{fdi:010080205,
  title = {{A}ir-sea interactions in the tropical {A}tlantic : a view based on lagged rotated maximum covariance analysis},
  author = {{F}rankignoul, {C}. and {K}estenare, {E}lodie},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{T}he dominant air-sea feedbacks that are at play in the tropical {A}tlantic are revisited, using the 1958-2002 {NCEP} reanalysis. {T}o separate between different modes of variability and distinguish between cause and effect, a lagged rotated maximum covariance analysis ({MCA}) of monthly sea surface temperature ({SST}), wind, and surface heat flux anomalies is performed. {T}he dominant mode is the {ENSO}-like zonal equatorial {SST} mode, which has its maximum amplitude in boreal summer and is a strongly coupled ocean-atmosphere mode sustained by a positive feedback between wind and {SST}. {T}he turbulent heat flux feedback is negative, except west of 25 degrees {W} where it is positive, but countered by a negative radiative feedback associated with the meridional displacement of the {ITCZ}. {A}s the maximum covariance patterns change little between lead and lag conditions, the in-phase covariability between {SST} and the atmosphere can be used to infer the atmospheric response to the {SST} anomaly. {T}he second climate mode involves an {SST} anomaly in the tropical {N}orth {A}tlantic, which is primarily generated by the surface heat flux and, in boreal winter, wind changes off the coast of {A}frica. {A}fter it has been generated, the {SST} anomaly is sustained in the deep {T}ropics by the positive wind-evaporation-{SST} feedback linked to the wind response to the {SST}. {H}owever, north of about 10 degrees {N} where the {SST} anomaly is largest, the wind response is weak and the heat flux feedback is negative, thus damping the {SST} anomaly. {A}s the in-phase maximum covariance patterns primarily reflect the atmospheric forcing of the {SST}, simultaneous correlations cannot be used to describe the atmospheric response to the {SST} anomaly, except in the deep {T}ropics. {U}sing instead the maximum covariance patterns when {SST} leads the atmosphere reconciles the results of recent atmospheric general circulation model experiments with the observations.},
  keywords = {{ATLANTIQUE} ; {ZONE} {TROPICALE}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{J}ournal of {C}limate},
  volume = {18},
  numero = {18},
  pages = {3874--3890},
  ISSN = {0894-8755},
  year = {2005},
  DOI = {10.1175/{JCLI}3498.1},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010080205},
}