The response of the tropical and equatorial ocean turbulent boundary layer system to unsteady atmospheric forcing on time scales from doiurnal to annual will be studied using a variety of numerical models. The surface layer mixing paramerization will be used to explain the transition from an eastern and central Pacific system to that of the western Pacific warm pool, reallistically responding to differences in localand advective forcing regimes. This study is a contribution to the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Reponse Experiment (TOGA COARE).