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Satellite observations and a high-resolution regional ocean-atmosphere coupled model are used to study the air/sea interactions at the oceanic mesoscale in the Peru-Chile upwelling current system. Coupling between mesoscale sea surface temperature (SST) and wind stress (WS) intensity is evidenced and characterized by correlations and regression coefficients. Both the model and the observations display similar spatial and seasonal variability of the coupling characteristics that are stronger off Peru than off Northern Chile, in relation with stronger wind mean speed and steadiness. The coupling is also more intense during winter than during summer in both regions. It is shown that WS intensity anomalies due to SST anomalies are mainly forced by mixing coefficient anomalies and partially compensated by wind shear anomalies. A momentum balance analysis shows that wind speed anomalies are created by stress shear anomalies. Near-surface pressure gradient anomalies have a negligible contribution because of the back-pressure effect related to the air temperature inversion. As mixing coefficients are mainly unchanged between summer and winter, the stronger coupling in winter is due to the enhanced large-scale wind shear that enables a more efficient action of the turbulent stress perturbations. This mechanism is robust as it does not depend on the choice of planetary boundary layer parameterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SST-forced tropical-channel simulations are used to quantify the control of shortwave (SW) parameterization on the mean tropical climate compared to other major model settings (convection, boundary layer turbulence, vertical and horizontal resolutions), and to pinpoint the physical mechanisms whereby this control manifests. Analyses focus on the spatial distribution and magnitude of the net SW radiation budget at the surface (SWnet_SFC), latent heat fluxes, and rainfall at the annual timescale. The model skill and sensitivity to the tested settings are quantified relative to observations and using an ensemble approach. Persistent biases include overestimated SWnet_SFC and too intense hydrological cycle. However, model skill is mainly controlled by SW parameterization, especially the magnitude of SWnet_SFC and rainfall and both the spatial distribution and magnitude of latent heat fluxes over ocean. On the other hand, the spatial distribution of continental rainfall (SWnet_SFC) is mainly influenced by convection parameterization and horizontal resolution (boundary layer parameterization and orography). Physical understanding of the control of SW parameterization is addressed by analyzing the thermal structure of the atmosphere and conducting sensitivity experiments to O absorption and SW scattering coefficient. SW parameterization shapes the stability of the atmosphere in two different ways according to whether surface is coupled to atmosphere or not, while O absorption has minor effects in our simulations. Over SST-prescribed regions, increasing the amount of SW absorption warms the atmosphere only because surface temperatures are fixed, resulting in increased atmospheric stability. Over land-atmosphere coupled regions, increasing SW absorption warms both atmospheric and surface temperatures, leading to a shift towards a warmer state and a more intense hydrological cycle. This turns in reversal model behavior between land and sea points, with the SW scheme that simulates greatest SW absorption producing the most (less) intense hydrological cycle over land (sea) points. This demonstrates strong limitations for simulating land/sea contrasts in SST-forced simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]