LAUSR

Tropical instability waves (TIWs) are prominent features in the equatorial Pacific, propagating westward at a speed of ~0.5 m s−1 with a wavelength of ~1000 km. In this study, we show that a linear stability analysis using a 1.5-layer shallow water model can predict successfully an unstable mode whose wavelength, phase speed, growth rate, and meridional structure are all consistent with those of the TIWs simulated by an eddy-resolving ocean general circulation model (OGCM). This unstable mode can be interpreted as resulting from the coupling of two Rossby waves, namely, one trapped just north of the equator (~1°–3.5°N) and the other trapped farther north (~3.5°–8°N). Although these two Rossby waves have opposite intrinsic phase propagation directions reflecting the negative and positive local meridional potential vorticity (PV) gradients, respectively, their actual propagation direction can be adjusted through the advection by the South Equatorial Current and the North Equatorial Countercurrent such that they might propagate westward at the same speed and with the same zonal wavenumber yielding the largest growth rate of TIWs. The unstable mode does not appear during the period in which the negative PV gradient is absent, which demonstrates its essential role in generating TIWs. Indeed, the seasonal and interannual variability of the TIWs simulated by the OGCM is shown to be significantly controlled by the strength of the negative PV gradient just north of the equator, suggesting that it could be a key parameter toward a dynamically based parameterization of the heat and momentum transfer associated with TIWs in coarse-resolution OGCMs.