Temperature bias in the Sulu and Celebes Seas

[gustavo-marques]

Meridional mean temperature biases in the Pacific show a column of cold water aroundxh=-240:

I suspect this bias is in the Sulu Sea, with the cold water entering via the straight highlighted below:

This temperature bias happens in cases with both hycom1 and zstar coordinates.

[klindsay28]

Here's a plot of theta0 from our IC file at 9N from 100E to 140E:

It has water around 9.9 degC going down to 5000m. That's pretty warm.
This warm water does appear in on older online WOA, such as theta0 at 2500m (final).
I'm not sure what to make of it.

[klindsay28]

Lynne Talley confirms that observations support this deep warm water in WOA.

[gustavo-marques]

The topo changes in #42 and #43 fixed the bias in the Sulu Sea. However, I now see a similar bias in the Celebes Sea. Here is my proposed topo changes for an upcoming simulation (055):

Sangihe Islands (between Philippines and Indonesia)

Before:

After topo changes:

[gustavo-marques]

Here are meridional mean temperature biases in the Pacific for cases 049 and 055 over the first 20 years of simulation: