scholarly journals Stratospheric Control of the Madden–Julian Oscillation

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1909-1922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seok-Woo Son ◽  
Yuna Lim ◽  
Changhyun Yoo ◽  
Harry H. Hendon ◽  
Joowan Kim

Abstract Interannual variation of seasonal-mean tropical convection over the Indo-Pacific region is primarily controlled by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). For example, during El Niño winters, seasonal-mean convection around the Maritime Continent becomes weaker than normal, while that over the central to eastern Pacific is strengthened. Similarly, subseasonal convective activity, which is associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), is influenced by ENSO. The MJO activity tends to extend farther eastward to the date line during El Niño winters and contract toward the western Pacific during La Niña winters. However, the overall level of MJO activity across the Maritime Continent does not change much in response to the ENSO. It is shown that the boreal winter MJO amplitude is closely linked with the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) rather than with ENSO. The MJO activity around the Maritime Continent becomes stronger and more organized during the easterly QBO winters. The QBO-related MJO change explains up to 40% of interannual variation of the boreal winter MJO amplitude. This result suggests that variability of the MJO and the related tropical–extratropical teleconnections can be better understood and predicted by taking not only the tropospheric circulation but also the stratospheric mean state into account. The seasonality of the QBO–MJO link and the possible mechanism are also discussed.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradford S. Barrett ◽  
Casey R. Densmore ◽  
Pallav Ray ◽  
Elizabeth R. Sanabia

AbstractTo better understand the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) in the Maritime Continent (MC), events from 1980 to 2019 were classified as active or weakening according to propagation characteristics and amplitude changes in two leading indices, the Real-time Multivariate MJO (RMM) index and Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) MJO Index (OMI). Active MJO events had larger index amplitudes than weakening events, and those amplitude differences appeared at day − 3 in the RMM and day − 8 in the OMI and remained through day + 15 in both indices (day 0 marked the day an event entered the MC). Thus, active events were stronger than weakening events as they approached and crossed the MC. To understand differences in environments between these events, composites of OLR and specific humidity were compared for each. Active MJO events had consistently more negative OLR anomalies and greater specific humidity in both the boundary layer and free troposphere than weakening MJO events. Those differences persisted during both easterly and westerly phases of the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) and during La Niña and El Niño. Active MJO events during QBO westerly winds had more specific humidity than active events did during QBO easterly winds. Finally, both active and weakening MJO events featured a diurnal cycle of lower-tropospheric specific humidity over land areas of the MC, and the amount of atmospheric moisture available to active events was consistently greater than weakening ones. These results indicate that index amplitude, OLR, and tropospheric specific humidity can all be important tools in identifying active and weakening MJO events in the MC, including for different phases of the QBO and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (15) ◽  
pp. 4045-4059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Roundy ◽  
Kyle MacRitchie ◽  
Jonas Asuma ◽  
Timothy Melino

Abstract Composite global patterns associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) are frequently applied to help make predictions of weather around the globe at lead times beyond a few days. However, ENSO modulates the background states through which the MJO and its global response patterns propagate. This paper explores the possibility that nonlinear variations confound the combined use of composites based on the MJO and ENSO separately. Results indicate that when both modes are active at the same time, the associated patterns in the global flow are poorly represented by simple linear combinations of composites based on the MJO and ENSO individually. Composites calculated by averaging data over periods when both modes are present at the same time more effectively describe the associated weather patterns. Results reveal that the high-latitude response to the MJO varies with ENSO over all longitudes, but especially across the North Pacific Rim, North America, and the North Atlantic. Further analysis demonstrates that the MJO influence on indexes of the North Atlantic Oscillation is greatest during La Niña conditions or during periods of rapid adjustment in the phase of ENSO.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomi Ziskin Ziv ◽  
Chaim I. Garfinkel ◽  
Sean Davis ◽  
Antara Banerjee

Abstract. The relative importance of two processes that help control the concentrations of stratospheric water vapor, the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), are evaluated in observations and in comprehensive coupled ocean-atmosphere-chemistry models. The possibility of nonlinear interactions between these two is evaluated both using Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and three additional advanced machine learning techniques. The QBO is found to be more important than ENSO, however nonlinear interactions are non-negligible, and even when ENSO, the QBO, and potential nonlinearities are included the fraction of entry water vapor variability explained is still substantially less than what is accounted for by cold point temperatures. While the advanced machine learning techniques perform better than an MLR in which nonlinearities are suppressed, adding nonlinear predictors to the MLR mostly closes the gap in performance with the advanced machine learning techniques. Comprehensive models suffer from too weak a connection between entry water and the QBO, however a notable improvement is found relative to previous generations of comprehensive models. Models with a stronger QBO in the lower stratosphere systematically simulate a more realistic connection with entry water.


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