scholarly journals Effect of the MJO on East Asian winter rainfall as revealed by an SVD analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Yun-Lan Chen ◽  
Chung-Hsiung Sui ◽  
Chih-Pei Chang ◽  
Kai-Chih Tseng

AbstractThis paper studies the influences of the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) on East Asian (EA) winter rainfall using the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) approach. This method uses two-dimensional instead of the latitudinally-averaged variables in the commonly used Real-time Multivariate MJO (RMM) index. A comparison of the two approaches is made using the same OLR and zonal wind data over 37 boreal winter seasons of December – March. The SVD composite reveals a more conspicuous and coherent variation throughout the MJO cycle, while the RMM composite is more ambiguous. In particular, the SVD analysis identifies the convection anomalies over the Maritime Continent and the subtropical western Pacific (MCWP) as a major cause of enhanced rainfall in EA at RMM phases 8 and 1. This is at least one-eighth cycle earlier than the phases of convection development over Indian Ocean (IO) that were emphasized by previous studies. A linearized global baroclinic model is used to demonstrate the mechanism of MJO forcing on EA rainfall during various phases, with a focus on the MCWP cooling. The result shows that the anomalous MCWP cooling and the resultant low-level anticyclonic flow interact with the East Asian Jet, leading to an overall weakened EA winter monsoon circulation. The associated anomalous overturning circulation, with ascending motion and low-level horizonal moisture convergence in EA, contributes to the enhanced rainfall. This model result supports the interpretation of the SVD analysis, in that the MCWP-cooling induced anomalous meridional circulation is a more direct cause of enhanced EA rainfall than the IO-heating (or the IO-MCWP heating dipole) induced Rossby wave teleconnection.

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 140
Author(s):  
Wenping Jiang ◽  
Gen Li ◽  
Gongjie Wang

El Niño events vary from case to case with different decaying paces. In this study, we demonstrate that the different El Niño decaying paces have distinct impacts on the East Asian monsoon circulation pattern during post-El Niño summers. For fast decaying (FD) El Niño summers, a large-scale anomalous anticyclone dominates over East Asia and the North Pacific from subtropical to mid-latitude; whereas, the East Asian monsoon circulation display a dipole pattern with anomalous northern cyclone and southern anticyclone for slow decaying (SD) El Niño summers. The difference in anomalous East Asian monsoon circulation patterns was closely associated with the sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly patterns in the tropics. In FD El Niño summers, the cold SST anomalies in the tropical central-eastern Pacific and warm SST anomalies in the Maritime Continent induce the anticyclone anomalies over the Northwest Pacific. In contrast, the warm Kelvin wave anchored over the tropical Indian Ocean during SD El Niño summers plays a crucial role in sustaining the anticyclone anomalies over the Northwest Pacific. In particular, the opposite atmospheric circulation anomaly patterns over Northeast Asia and the mid-latitude North Pacific are mainly modulated by the stationary Rossby wave trains triggered by the opposite SST anomalies in the tropical eastern Pacific during FD and SD El Niño summers. Finally, the effect of distinct summer monsoon circulation patterns associated with the El Niño decay pace on the summer climate over East Asia are also discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Lei Zhou ◽  
Ruomei Ruan ◽  
Raghu Murtugudde

AbstractMadden-Julian Oscillations (MJOs) are a major component of tropical intraseasonal variabilities. There are two paths for MJOs across the Maritime Continent; one is a detoured route into the Southern Hemisphere and the other one is around the equator across the Maritime Continent. Here, it is shown that the detoured and non-detoured MJOs have significantly different impacts on the South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ). The detoured MJOs trigger strong cross-equatorial meridional winds from the Northern Hemisphere into the Southern Hemisphere. The associated meridional moisture and energy transports due to the background states carried by the intraseasonal meridional winds are favorable for reinforcing the SPCZ. In contrast, the influences of non-detoured MJOs on either hemisphere or the meridional transports across the equator are much weaker. The detoured MJOs can extend their impacts to the surrounding regions by shedding Rossby waves. Due to different background vorticity during detoured MJOs in boreal winter, more ray paths of Rossby waves traverse the Maritime Continent connecting the southern Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean, but far fewer Rossby wave paths traverse Australia. Further studies on such processes are expected to contribute to a better understanding of extreme climate and natural disasters on the rim of the southern Pacific and Indian Oceans.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 397-414
Author(s):  
Guosen Chen

AbstractA recent study has revealed that the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) during boreal winter exhibits diverse propagation patterns that consist of four archetypes: standing MJO, jumping MJO, slow eastward propagating MJO, and fast eastward propagating MJO. This study has explored the diversity of teleconnection associated with these four MJO groups. The results reveal that each MJO group corresponds to distinct global teleconnections, manifested as diverse upper-tropospheric Rossby wave train patterns. Overall, the teleconnections in the fast and slow MJO are similar to those in the canonical MJO constructed by the real-time multivariate MJO (RMM) indices, while the teleconnections in the jumping and standing MJO generally lose similarities to those in the canonical MJO. The causes of this diversity are investigated using a linearized potential vorticity equation. The various MJO tropical heating patterns in different MJO groups are the main cause of the diverse MJO teleconnections, as they induce assorted upper-level divergent flows that act as Rossby-wave sources through advecting the background potential vorticity. The variation of the Asian jet could affect the teleconnections over the Pacific jet exit region, but it plays an insignificant role in causing the diversity of global teleconnections. The numerical investigation with a linear baroclinic model shows that the teleconnections can be interpreted as linear responses to the MJO’s diabatic heating to various degrees for different MJO groups, with the fast and slow MJO having higher linear skill than the jumping and standing MJO. The results have broad implications in the MJO’s tropical–extratropical interactions and the associated impacts on global weather and climate.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
C-P. Chang ◽  
Zhuo Wang ◽  
John McBride ◽  
Ching-Hwang Liu

Abstract In general, the Bay of Bengal, Indochina Peninsula, and Philippines are in the Asian summer monsoon regime while the Maritime Continent experiences a wet monsoon during boreal winter and a dry season during boreal summer. However, the complex distribution of land, sea, and terrain results in significant local variations of the annual cycle. This work uses historical station rainfall data to classify the annual cycles of rainfall over land areas, the TRMM rainfall measurements to identify the monsoon regimes of the four seasons in all of Southeast Asia, and the QuikSCAT winds to study the causes of the variations. The annual cycle is dominated largely by interactions between the complex terrain and a simple annual reversal of the surface monsoonal winds throughout all monsoon regions from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and the equatorial western Pacific. The semiannual cycle is comparable in magnitude to the annual cycle over parts of the equatorial landmasses, but only a very small region reflects the twice-yearly crossing of the sun. Most of the semiannual cycle appears to be due to the influence of both the summer and the winter monsoon in the western part of the Maritime Continent where the annual cycle maximum occurs in fall. Analysis of the TRMM data reveals a structure whereby the boreal summer and winter monsoon rainfall regimes intertwine across the equator and both are strongly affected by the wind–terrain interaction. In particular, the boreal winter regime extends far northward along the eastern flanks of the major island groups and landmasses. A hypothesis is presented to explain the asymmetric seasonal march in which the maximum convection follows a gradual southeastward progression path from the Asian summer monsoon to the Asian winter monsoon but experiences a sudden transition in the reverse. The hypothesis is based on the redistribution of mass between land and ocean areas during spring and fall that results from different land–ocean thermal memories. This mass redistribution between the two transition seasons produces sea level patterns leading to asymmetric wind–terrain interactions throughout the region, and a low-level divergence asymmetry in the region that promotes the southward march of maximum convection during boreal fall but opposes the northward march during boreal spring.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Furqon Alfahmi ◽  
Rizaldi Boer ◽  
Rahmat Hidayat ◽  
Perdinan ◽  
Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan

Indonesian Maritime Continent has the second longest coastline in the world, but the characteristics of offshore rainfall and its relation to coastline type are not clearly understood. As a region with eighty percent being an ocean, knowledge of offshore rainfall is important to support activity over oceans. This study investigates the climatology of offshore rainfall based on TRMM 3B42 composite during 1998-2015 and its dynamical atmosphere which induces high rainfall intensity using WRF-ARW. The result shows that concave coastline drives the increasing rainfall over ocean with Cenderawasih Bay (widest concave coastline) having the highest rainfall offshore intensity (16.5 mm per day) over Indonesian Maritime Continent. Monthly peak offshore rainfall over concave coastline is related to direction of concave coastline and peak of diurnal cycle influenced by the shifting of low level convergence. Concave coastline facing the north has peak during northwesterly monsoonal flow (March), while concave coastline facing the east has peak during easterly monsoonal flow (July). Low level convergence zone shifts from inland during daytime to ocean during nighttime. Due to shape of concave coastline, land breeze strengthens low level convergence and supports merging rainfall over ocean during nighttime. Rainfall propagating from the area around inland to ocean is approximately 5.4 m/s over Cenderawasih Bay and 4.1 m/s over Tolo Bay. Merger rainfall and low level convergence are playing role in increasing offshore rainfall over concave coastline.


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