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Abstract
This study investigates the causes and predictability of the different springtime rainfall responses over Australia for El Niño in 1997 and 2002. The rainfall deficit over Australia is generally assumed to be linearly related to the strength of El Niño. However, Australia received near-normal springtime rainfall during the record strong El Niño in 1997, whereas it suffered from severe drought, especially in the east, during the weak El Niño of 2002.
Statistical reconstruction of the rainfall anomalies and forecasts produced from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s dynamical seasonal forecast system [Predictive Ocean and Atmosphere Model for Australia (POAMA)] demonstrated that the eastward and westward shifts of the maximum SST warming of El Niño contributed to the near-normal and dry responses of Australian spring rainfall in 1997 and 2002, respectively. Hence, the contrasting rainfall responses were largely predictable. However, the dry conditions in 2002 were significantly amplified by the occurrence of the record strength negative phase of the southern annular mode (SAM), which could only be predicted with the use of realistic atmospheric initial conditions in the atmosphere–ocean coupled configuration of POAMA. Therefore, predictability of the severity of the 2002 drought over Australia was strongly constrained by the predictability of the SAM, despite the high predictability of the drier than normal condition of 2002 spring that stems from the anomalous central Pacific warming of 2002 El Niño.
Abstract
This study investigates the causes and predictability of the different springtime rainfall responses over Australia for El Niño in 1997 and 2002. The rainfall deficit over Australia is generally assumed to be linearly related to the strength of El Niño. However, Australia received near-normal springtime rainfall during the record strong El Niño in 1997, whereas it suffered from severe drought, especially in the east, during the weak El Niño of 2002.
Statistical reconstruction of the rainfall anomalies and forecasts produced from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s dynamical seasonal forecast system [Predictive Ocean and Atmosphere Model for Australia (POAMA)] demonstrated that the eastward and westward shifts of the maximum SST warming of El Niño contributed to the near-normal and dry responses of Australian spring rainfall in 1997 and 2002, respectively. Hence, the contrasting rainfall responses were largely predictable. However, the dry conditions in 2002 were significantly amplified by the occurrence of the record strength negative phase of the southern annular mode (SAM), which could only be predicted with the use of realistic atmospheric initial conditions in the atmosphere–ocean coupled configuration of POAMA. Therefore, predictability of the severity of the 2002 drought over Australia was strongly constrained by the predictability of the SAM, despite the high predictability of the drier than normal condition of 2002 spring that stems from the anomalous central Pacific warming of 2002 El Niño.
Abstract
To shed light onto the possible role of stochastic forcing of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the characteristics of observed tropical atmospheric variability that is statistically uncoupled from slowly evolving sea surface temperature (SST) are diagnosed. The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is shown to be the dominant mode of variability within these uncoupled or “stochastic” components. The dominance of the MJO is important because the MJO generates oceanic Kelvin waves and perturbs SST in the equatorial Pacific that may feed back onto the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The seasonality present in the uncoupled zonal stress (maximum in austral summer), which reflects the seasonality of MJO activity, is also transmitted to the eastern Pacific thermocline variability by these Kelvin waves. Hence, the MJO component of the uncoupled stress could plausibly contribute to the observed phase locking of ENSO to the seasonal cycle.
During an El Niño event, maximum uncoupled zonal stress variance shifts eastward from the western Pacific along with the coupled surface westerly wind and warm SST anomalies. The MJO accounts for less than half of this low-frequency behavior of the uncoupled stress but accounts for nearly two-thirds of the resultant thermocline variability. The uncoupled zonal stress also exhibits weak, westerly anomalies in the western Pacific some 8–10 months prior to El Niño, which is mostly accounted for by the low-frequency (period ≫ 50 days) behavior of the MJO. This low-frequency behavior possibly explains why observed El Niño variability is recovered when weakly damped models are forced with similar estimates of observed stochastic zonal stress.
Abstract
To shed light onto the possible role of stochastic forcing of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the characteristics of observed tropical atmospheric variability that is statistically uncoupled from slowly evolving sea surface temperature (SST) are diagnosed. The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is shown to be the dominant mode of variability within these uncoupled or “stochastic” components. The dominance of the MJO is important because the MJO generates oceanic Kelvin waves and perturbs SST in the equatorial Pacific that may feed back onto the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The seasonality present in the uncoupled zonal stress (maximum in austral summer), which reflects the seasonality of MJO activity, is also transmitted to the eastern Pacific thermocline variability by these Kelvin waves. Hence, the MJO component of the uncoupled stress could plausibly contribute to the observed phase locking of ENSO to the seasonal cycle.
During an El Niño event, maximum uncoupled zonal stress variance shifts eastward from the western Pacific along with the coupled surface westerly wind and warm SST anomalies. The MJO accounts for less than half of this low-frequency behavior of the uncoupled stress but accounts for nearly two-thirds of the resultant thermocline variability. The uncoupled zonal stress also exhibits weak, westerly anomalies in the western Pacific some 8–10 months prior to El Niño, which is mostly accounted for by the low-frequency (period ≫ 50 days) behavior of the MJO. This low-frequency behavior possibly explains why observed El Niño variability is recovered when weakly damped models are forced with similar estimates of observed stochastic zonal stress.
Abstract
Evidence is presented of a downstream development mechanism operating across the entire longitudinal span of the 1978/79 Southern Hemisphere monsoon. Observationally it is seen as progressive cyclonic and anticyclonic vorticity increases that develop eastward in the monsoon trough at a speed of approximately 5 m s−1. The process results in many tropical cyclone and tropical depression formations over northern Australia and the South Pacific.
It is shown that the downstream development process is generally consistent with linearized barotropic dynamics, and that the Southern Hemisphere monsoon, because of an intrinsic westerly basic state, is a particularly suitable region for downstream events.
It is also shown that some apparent contradictions in previous observational studies can be rationalized by the theory. The interactions between the regional components of the monsoon (Indonesian, Australian and South Pacific sectors) can also he better understood. We further suggest that the process has implications for other features of the monsoon circulation, namely onset and 40–50 day events.
Abstract
Evidence is presented of a downstream development mechanism operating across the entire longitudinal span of the 1978/79 Southern Hemisphere monsoon. Observationally it is seen as progressive cyclonic and anticyclonic vorticity increases that develop eastward in the monsoon trough at a speed of approximately 5 m s−1. The process results in many tropical cyclone and tropical depression formations over northern Australia and the South Pacific.
It is shown that the downstream development process is generally consistent with linearized barotropic dynamics, and that the Southern Hemisphere monsoon, because of an intrinsic westerly basic state, is a particularly suitable region for downstream events.
It is also shown that some apparent contradictions in previous observational studies can be rationalized by the theory. The interactions between the regional components of the monsoon (Indonesian, Australian and South Pacific sectors) can also he better understood. We further suggest that the process has implications for other features of the monsoon circulation, namely onset and 40–50 day events.
Abstract
Reliability of the surface fluxes from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalyses is assessed across the warm pool of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Emphasis is given to the spatial distribution and coherence of the fluxes on intraseasonal (25–100 day) periods, as intraseasonal variability predominates the subseasonal variability across the warm pool. Comparison is made with surface fluxes estimated from data collected at a mooring during the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment and with independent gridded estimates based on operational wind and surface pressure analyses and satellite observations of rainfall, shortwave radiation, and outgoing longwave radiation. In general, fluxes that depend primarily on surface wind variations (e.g., stress and latent heat flux) agree more favorably than fluxes that are largely dependent on fluctuations of convection (e.g., surface shortwave radiation and freshwater or precipitation). In particular, the intraseasonal variance of shortwave radiation and precipitation in the NCEP reanalyses is about half of that estimated from in situ observations and from satellite observations. Composite surface flux variations for the Madden–Julian oscillation, which is the dominant mode of intraseasonal variability in the warm pool, are also constructed. Again, the composite variations of wind stress and latent heat flux from the NCEP reanalyses agree reasonably well, both in magnitude and phasing, with the composite fluxes from the independent gridded data. However, the composite intraseasonal shortwave radiation and precipitation from the NCEP reanalyses, while agreeing in phase, exhibit less than half the amplitude of the satellite-based estimates.
The impact of the underestimation of these surface flux variations in the NCEP reanalyses on the intraseasonal evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) in the warm pool is investigated in the context of a one-dimensional mixed layer model. When forced with the intraseasonal surface fluxes from the NCEP reanalyses, the amplitude of the intraseasonal SST variation is some 30%–40% smaller than observed or than that from forcing with the independent gridded fluxes. This reduced amplitude is primarily caused by the underestimation of the intraseasonal shortwave radiation variations in the NCEP reanalyses.
Abstract
Reliability of the surface fluxes from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalyses is assessed across the warm pool of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Emphasis is given to the spatial distribution and coherence of the fluxes on intraseasonal (25–100 day) periods, as intraseasonal variability predominates the subseasonal variability across the warm pool. Comparison is made with surface fluxes estimated from data collected at a mooring during the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment and with independent gridded estimates based on operational wind and surface pressure analyses and satellite observations of rainfall, shortwave radiation, and outgoing longwave radiation. In general, fluxes that depend primarily on surface wind variations (e.g., stress and latent heat flux) agree more favorably than fluxes that are largely dependent on fluctuations of convection (e.g., surface shortwave radiation and freshwater or precipitation). In particular, the intraseasonal variance of shortwave radiation and precipitation in the NCEP reanalyses is about half of that estimated from in situ observations and from satellite observations. Composite surface flux variations for the Madden–Julian oscillation, which is the dominant mode of intraseasonal variability in the warm pool, are also constructed. Again, the composite variations of wind stress and latent heat flux from the NCEP reanalyses agree reasonably well, both in magnitude and phasing, with the composite fluxes from the independent gridded data. However, the composite intraseasonal shortwave radiation and precipitation from the NCEP reanalyses, while agreeing in phase, exhibit less than half the amplitude of the satellite-based estimates.
The impact of the underestimation of these surface flux variations in the NCEP reanalyses on the intraseasonal evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) in the warm pool is investigated in the context of a one-dimensional mixed layer model. When forced with the intraseasonal surface fluxes from the NCEP reanalyses, the amplitude of the intraseasonal SST variation is some 30%–40% smaller than observed or than that from forcing with the independent gridded fluxes. This reduced amplitude is primarily caused by the underestimation of the intraseasonal shortwave radiation variations in the NCEP reanalyses.
Abstract
The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is often observed to weaken or sometimes completely decay as its convective anomaly moves from the Indian Ocean over to the Maritime Continent (MC), which is known as the MC barrier effect on the MJO. This barrier effect is often exaggerated in numerical models. Using 23 years of the retrospective intraseasonal forecast from two coupled model systems with useful MJO prediction skills, we show that the predictive skill of the real-time multivariate MJO (RMM) index for the continuously propagating MJO events across the MC region is higher than for the blocked MJO events. The greater prediction skill is not related to the higher initial RMM amplitude for the continuous MJO events. Rather the higher skill arises from the more persistent behavior of the propagating MJO events as the convective anomaly moves through the MC region into the western Pacific. The potential predictability is similar for both types of MJO events, suggesting the forecast models hardly differentiate the two types of MJO events in prediction; they only maintain higher RMM magnitudes of the continuously propagating events. The global reanalysis dataset indicates that the blocked events are often associated with persistent higher surface pressures over colder sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific, suggesting the large-scale environment plays a role in promoting or inhibiting the MJO propagation across the MC region. Caveats in the models to reproduce the observed MJO events are also discussed.
Abstract
The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is often observed to weaken or sometimes completely decay as its convective anomaly moves from the Indian Ocean over to the Maritime Continent (MC), which is known as the MC barrier effect on the MJO. This barrier effect is often exaggerated in numerical models. Using 23 years of the retrospective intraseasonal forecast from two coupled model systems with useful MJO prediction skills, we show that the predictive skill of the real-time multivariate MJO (RMM) index for the continuously propagating MJO events across the MC region is higher than for the blocked MJO events. The greater prediction skill is not related to the higher initial RMM amplitude for the continuous MJO events. Rather the higher skill arises from the more persistent behavior of the propagating MJO events as the convective anomaly moves through the MC region into the western Pacific. The potential predictability is similar for both types of MJO events, suggesting the forecast models hardly differentiate the two types of MJO events in prediction; they only maintain higher RMM magnitudes of the continuously propagating events. The global reanalysis dataset indicates that the blocked events are often associated with persistent higher surface pressures over colder sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific, suggesting the large-scale environment plays a role in promoting or inhibiting the MJO propagation across the MC region. Caveats in the models to reproduce the observed MJO events are also discussed.
Abstract
Composites of sea surface temperature (SST), surface heat, momentum, and freshwater flux anomalies associated with intraseasonal oscillations of convection are developed for the warm pool of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans during 1986–93. The composites are based on empirical orthogonal function analysis of intraseasonally filtered outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), which efficiently extracts the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) in convection. Surface fluxes are estimated using gridded analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, weekly SST, OLR, microwave sounding unit precipitation, and the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) bulk flux algorithm. At intraseasonal timescales, these surface flux estimates agree reasonably well with estimates based on mooring observations collected during TOGA COARE.
The amplitude of the composite SST variation produced by the MJO is about 0.25°C in the western Pacific, 0.35°C in the Indonesian region, and 0.15°C in the Indian Ocean. The intraseasonal anomalies of SST and net surface heat flux propagate eastward at about 4 m s−1 along with the convective anomaly. The amplitude of the net surface heat flux variation is 50–70 W m−2 in the western Pacific, with anomalous insolation and latent heat flux making similar contributions. Across the Indian Ocean, the net surface heat flux anomaly is weaker (30–40 W m−2), and anomalous insolation appears to make a greater contribution than anomalous latent heat flux. Across the entire warm pool, the net surface heat flux leads the SST variation by about one-quarter cycle, which is consistent with the notion that surface heat flux variations are driving the SST variations at these intraseasonal timescales. The intraseasonal SST variation, however, is estimated to significantly reduce the amplitude of the latent and sensible heat fluxes produced by the MJO.
Abstract
Composites of sea surface temperature (SST), surface heat, momentum, and freshwater flux anomalies associated with intraseasonal oscillations of convection are developed for the warm pool of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans during 1986–93. The composites are based on empirical orthogonal function analysis of intraseasonally filtered outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), which efficiently extracts the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) in convection. Surface fluxes are estimated using gridded analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, weekly SST, OLR, microwave sounding unit precipitation, and the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) bulk flux algorithm. At intraseasonal timescales, these surface flux estimates agree reasonably well with estimates based on mooring observations collected during TOGA COARE.
The amplitude of the composite SST variation produced by the MJO is about 0.25°C in the western Pacific, 0.35°C in the Indonesian region, and 0.15°C in the Indian Ocean. The intraseasonal anomalies of SST and net surface heat flux propagate eastward at about 4 m s−1 along with the convective anomaly. The amplitude of the net surface heat flux variation is 50–70 W m−2 in the western Pacific, with anomalous insolation and latent heat flux making similar contributions. Across the Indian Ocean, the net surface heat flux anomaly is weaker (30–40 W m−2), and anomalous insolation appears to make a greater contribution than anomalous latent heat flux. Across the entire warm pool, the net surface heat flux leads the SST variation by about one-quarter cycle, which is consistent with the notion that surface heat flux variations are driving the SST variations at these intraseasonal timescales. The intraseasonal SST variation, however, is estimated to significantly reduce the amplitude of the latent and sensible heat fluxes produced by the MJO.
Abstract
Coupled ocean–atmosphere variability in the tropical Indian Ocean is explored with a multicentury integration of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Mark 3 climate model, which runs without flux adjustment. Despite the presence of some common deficiencies in this type of coupled model, zonal dipolelike variability is produced. During July through November, the dominant mode of variability of sea surface temperature resembles the observed zonal dipole and has out-of-phase rainfall variations across the Indian Ocean basin, which are as large as those associated with the model El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the positive dipole phase, cold SST anomaly and suppressed rainfall south of the equator on the Sumatra–Java coast drives an anticyclonic circulation anomaly that is consistent with the steady response (Gill model) to a heat sink displaced south of the equator. The northwest–southeast tilting Sumatra–Java coast results in cold sea surface temperature (SST) centered south of the equator, which forces anticylonic winds that are southeasterly along the coast, which thus produces local upwelling, cool SSTs, and promotes more anticylonic winds; on the equator, the easterlies raise the thermocline to the east via upwelling Kelvin waves and deepen the off-equatorial thermocline to the west via off-equatorial downwelling Rossby waves. The model dipole mode exhibits little contemporaneous relationship with the model ENSO; however, this does not imply that it is independent of ENSO. The model dipole often (but not always) develops in the year following El Niño. It is triggered by an unrealistic transmission of the model’s ENSO discharge phase through the Indonesian passages. In the model, the ENSO discharge Rossby waves arrive at the Sumatra–Java coast some 6 to 9 months after an El Niño peaks, causing the majority of model dipole events to peak in the year after an ENSO warm event. In the observed ENSO discharge, Rossby waves arrive at the Australian northwest coast. Thus the model Indian Ocean dipolelike variability is triggered by an unrealistic mechanism. The result highlights the importance of properly representing the transmission of Pacific Rossby waves and Indonesian throughflow in the complex topography of the Indonesian region in coupled climate models.
Abstract
Coupled ocean–atmosphere variability in the tropical Indian Ocean is explored with a multicentury integration of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Mark 3 climate model, which runs without flux adjustment. Despite the presence of some common deficiencies in this type of coupled model, zonal dipolelike variability is produced. During July through November, the dominant mode of variability of sea surface temperature resembles the observed zonal dipole and has out-of-phase rainfall variations across the Indian Ocean basin, which are as large as those associated with the model El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the positive dipole phase, cold SST anomaly and suppressed rainfall south of the equator on the Sumatra–Java coast drives an anticyclonic circulation anomaly that is consistent with the steady response (Gill model) to a heat sink displaced south of the equator. The northwest–southeast tilting Sumatra–Java coast results in cold sea surface temperature (SST) centered south of the equator, which forces anticylonic winds that are southeasterly along the coast, which thus produces local upwelling, cool SSTs, and promotes more anticylonic winds; on the equator, the easterlies raise the thermocline to the east via upwelling Kelvin waves and deepen the off-equatorial thermocline to the west via off-equatorial downwelling Rossby waves. The model dipole mode exhibits little contemporaneous relationship with the model ENSO; however, this does not imply that it is independent of ENSO. The model dipole often (but not always) develops in the year following El Niño. It is triggered by an unrealistic transmission of the model’s ENSO discharge phase through the Indonesian passages. In the model, the ENSO discharge Rossby waves arrive at the Sumatra–Java coast some 6 to 9 months after an El Niño peaks, causing the majority of model dipole events to peak in the year after an ENSO warm event. In the observed ENSO discharge, Rossby waves arrive at the Australian northwest coast. Thus the model Indian Ocean dipolelike variability is triggered by an unrealistic mechanism. The result highlights the importance of properly representing the transmission of Pacific Rossby waves and Indonesian throughflow in the complex topography of the Indonesian region in coupled climate models.
Abstract
The evolution of the Indian Ocean during El Niño–Southern Oscillation is investigated in a 100-yr integration of an Australian Bureau of Meteorology coupled seasonal forecast model. During El Niño, easterly anomalies are induced across the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. These act to suppress the equatorial thermocline to the west and elevate it to the east and initially cool (warm) the sea surface temperature (SST) in the east (west). Subsequently, the entire Indian Ocean basin warms, mainly in response to the reduced latent heat flux and enhanced shortwave radiation that is associated with suppressed rainfall. This evolution can be partially explained by the excitation of an intrinsic coupled mode that involves a feedback between anomalous equatorial easterlies and zonal gradients in SST and rainfall. This positive feedback develops in the boreal summer and autumn seasons when the mean thermocline is shallow in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean in response to trade southeasterlies. This positive feedback diminishes once the climatological surface winds become westerly at the onset of the Australian summer monsoon.
ENSO is the leading mechanism that excites this coupled mode, but not all ENSO events are efficient at exciting it. During the typical El Niño (La Niña) event, easterly (westerly) anomalies are not induced until after boreal autumn, which is too late in the annual cycle to instigate strong dynamical coupling. Only those ENSO events that develop early (i.e., before boreal summer) instigate a strong coupled response in the Indian Ocean. The coupled mode can also be initiated in early boreal summer by an equatorward shift of the subtropical ridge in the southern Indian Ocean, which stems from uncoupled extratropical variability.
Abstract
The evolution of the Indian Ocean during El Niño–Southern Oscillation is investigated in a 100-yr integration of an Australian Bureau of Meteorology coupled seasonal forecast model. During El Niño, easterly anomalies are induced across the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. These act to suppress the equatorial thermocline to the west and elevate it to the east and initially cool (warm) the sea surface temperature (SST) in the east (west). Subsequently, the entire Indian Ocean basin warms, mainly in response to the reduced latent heat flux and enhanced shortwave radiation that is associated with suppressed rainfall. This evolution can be partially explained by the excitation of an intrinsic coupled mode that involves a feedback between anomalous equatorial easterlies and zonal gradients in SST and rainfall. This positive feedback develops in the boreal summer and autumn seasons when the mean thermocline is shallow in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean in response to trade southeasterlies. This positive feedback diminishes once the climatological surface winds become westerly at the onset of the Australian summer monsoon.
ENSO is the leading mechanism that excites this coupled mode, but not all ENSO events are efficient at exciting it. During the typical El Niño (La Niña) event, easterly (westerly) anomalies are not induced until after boreal autumn, which is too late in the annual cycle to instigate strong dynamical coupling. Only those ENSO events that develop early (i.e., before boreal summer) instigate a strong coupled response in the Indian Ocean. The coupled mode can also be initiated in early boreal summer by an equatorward shift of the subtropical ridge in the southern Indian Ocean, which stems from uncoupled extratropical variability.
Abstract
The authors assess the sensitivity of the simulated mean state and coupled variability to systematic initial state salinity errors in seasonal forecasts using the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Predictive Ocean Atmosphere Model for Australia (POAMA) coupled model. This analysis is based on two sets of hindcasts that were initialized from old and new ocean initial conditions, respectively. The new ocean initial conditions are provided by an ensemble multivariate analysis system that assimilates subsurface temperatures and salinity and is a clear improvement over the previous system, which was based on univariate optimal interpolation, using static error covariances and assimilating only temperature without updating salinity.
Large systematic errors in the salinity field around the thermocline region of the tropical western and central Pacific produced by the old assimilation scheme are shown to have strong impacts on the predicted mean state and variability in the tropical Pacific for the entire 9 months of the forecast. Forecasts initialized from the old scheme undergo a rapid and systematic adjustment of density that causes large persistent changes in temperature both locally in the western and central Pacific thermocline, but also remotely in the eastern Pacific via excitation of equatorial waves. The initial subsurface salinity errors in the western and central Pacific ultimately result in an altered surface climate because of induced temperature changes in the thermocline that trigger a coupled feedback in the eastern Pacific. These results highlight the importance of accurately representing salinity in initial conditions for climate prediction on seasonal and potentially multiyear time scales.
Abstract
The authors assess the sensitivity of the simulated mean state and coupled variability to systematic initial state salinity errors in seasonal forecasts using the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Predictive Ocean Atmosphere Model for Australia (POAMA) coupled model. This analysis is based on two sets of hindcasts that were initialized from old and new ocean initial conditions, respectively. The new ocean initial conditions are provided by an ensemble multivariate analysis system that assimilates subsurface temperatures and salinity and is a clear improvement over the previous system, which was based on univariate optimal interpolation, using static error covariances and assimilating only temperature without updating salinity.
Large systematic errors in the salinity field around the thermocline region of the tropical western and central Pacific produced by the old assimilation scheme are shown to have strong impacts on the predicted mean state and variability in the tropical Pacific for the entire 9 months of the forecast. Forecasts initialized from the old scheme undergo a rapid and systematic adjustment of density that causes large persistent changes in temperature both locally in the western and central Pacific thermocline, but also remotely in the eastern Pacific via excitation of equatorial waves. The initial subsurface salinity errors in the western and central Pacific ultimately result in an altered surface climate because of induced temperature changes in the thermocline that trigger a coupled feedback in the eastern Pacific. These results highlight the importance of accurately representing salinity in initial conditions for climate prediction on seasonal and potentially multiyear time scales.
Abstract
Simulations using an atmospheric model forced with observed SST climatology and the same atmospheric model coupled to a slab-ocean model are used to investigate the role of air–sea interaction on the dynamics of the MJO. Slab-ocean coupling improved the MJO in Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology atmospheric model over the Indo-Pacific warm pool by reducing its period from 70–100 to 45–70 days, thereby showing better agreement with the 30–80-day observed oscillation.
Air–sea coupling improves the MJO by increasing the moisture flux in the lower troposphere prior to the passage of active convection, which acts to promote convection and precipitation on the eastern flank of the main convective center. This process is triggered by an increase in surface evaporation over positive SST anomalies ahead of the MJO convection, which are driven by the enhanced shortwave radiation in the region of suppressed convection. This in turn generates enhanced convergence into the region, which supports evaporation–wind feedback in the presence of weak background westerly winds. A subsequent increase in low-level moisture convergence acts to further moisten the lower troposphere in advance of large-scale convection in a region of reduced atmospheric pressure. This destabilizing mechanism is referred to as enhanced moisture convergence–evaporation feedback (EMCEF) and is utilized to understand the role of air–sea coupling on the observed MJO. The EMCEF mechanism also reconciles traditionally opposing ideas on the roles of frictional wave–conditional instability of the second kind (CISK) and wind–evaporation feedback. These results support the idea that the MJO is primarily an atmospheric phenomenon, with air–sea interaction improving upon, but not critical for, its existence in the model.
Abstract
Simulations using an atmospheric model forced with observed SST climatology and the same atmospheric model coupled to a slab-ocean model are used to investigate the role of air–sea interaction on the dynamics of the MJO. Slab-ocean coupling improved the MJO in Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology atmospheric model over the Indo-Pacific warm pool by reducing its period from 70–100 to 45–70 days, thereby showing better agreement with the 30–80-day observed oscillation.
Air–sea coupling improves the MJO by increasing the moisture flux in the lower troposphere prior to the passage of active convection, which acts to promote convection and precipitation on the eastern flank of the main convective center. This process is triggered by an increase in surface evaporation over positive SST anomalies ahead of the MJO convection, which are driven by the enhanced shortwave radiation in the region of suppressed convection. This in turn generates enhanced convergence into the region, which supports evaporation–wind feedback in the presence of weak background westerly winds. A subsequent increase in low-level moisture convergence acts to further moisten the lower troposphere in advance of large-scale convection in a region of reduced atmospheric pressure. This destabilizing mechanism is referred to as enhanced moisture convergence–evaporation feedback (EMCEF) and is utilized to understand the role of air–sea coupling on the observed MJO. The EMCEF mechanism also reconciles traditionally opposing ideas on the roles of frictional wave–conditional instability of the second kind (CISK) and wind–evaporation feedback. These results support the idea that the MJO is primarily an atmospheric phenomenon, with air–sea interaction improving upon, but not critical for, its existence in the model.
