REGIONAL DIFFERENCES OF TEMPORAL-SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AIR-SEA INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL OCEANS^*

The singular value decomposition (SVD) of air-sea interaction in the tropical western,central,and eastern Pacific,and the tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans has been conducted by using the NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis 1000 hPa monthly wind field and COADS monthly sea surface temperature (SST).Comparisons of the results suggest that these areas can be divided into three types from the viewpoint of air-sea interaction:tropical central-eastern Pacific belongs to monistic type,in which ENSO is the sole important process;tropical western Pacific and Indian Oceans belong to dualistic type,in which in addition to ENSO.there should be an another important process;tropical Atlantic Ocean belongs to pluralistic type,in which the process is complicated and the ENSO cycle is not evident.