Seasonal and interannual variabilities of the tropical ocean- atmosphere system are affected by a variety of processes which at present are not well understood. This research includes process studies on such subject areas as: 1)the organization of convection over tropical oceans, 2)the contributions of convectively driven and boundary layer circulations to interannual surface wind anomalies, 3) the structure of the climatological convergence zones and trade wind systems, 4) the dynamics of tropical air-sea interaction in the context of the global tropics, and 5) the influence of multi-mode ocean dynamics on ENSO structure and variability. Among the most effective tools for these process studies are numerical models that are more general and more complete than the typical intermediate models developed and used at Columbia University/Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and yet are simpler, more easily interpreted, and more efficient than the typical Global Circulation Models (GCMs). A generalized ocean model for use in item 5 above has already been developed and a global, spherical, multi-layer atmosphere model is nearly ready for application in items 1 and 2 above. This atmosphere model has been developed under previous National Science Foundation support. The methods of analysis draw heavily on inverse calculations, where atmospheric states derived from operational analyses or GCM simulations will be used to infer the forcing fields appropriate to realistic simulations, thereby assisting in the development of parameterizations necessary for the above process studies.