scholarly journals Propagation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation through the Maritime Continent and scale interaction with the diurnal cycle of precipitation

2013 ◽  
Vol 140 (680) ◽  
pp. 814-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon C. Peatman ◽  
Adrian J. Matthews ◽  
David P. Stevens
2021 ◽  
Vol 149 (10) ◽  
pp. 3449-3468
Author(s):  
Joshua Chun Kwang Lee ◽  
Anurag Dipankar ◽  
Xiang-Yu Huang

AbstractThe diurnal cycle is the most prominent mode of rainfall variability in the tropics, governed mainly by the strong solar heating and land–sea interactions that trigger convection. Over the western Maritime Continent, complex orographic and coastal effects can also play an important role. Weather and climate models often struggle to represent these physical processes, resulting in substantial model biases in simulations over the region. For numerical weather prediction, these biases manifest themselves in the initial conditions, leading to phase and amplitude errors in the diurnal cycle of precipitation. Using a tropical convective-scale data assimilation system, we assimilate 3-hourly radiosonde data from the pilot field campaign of the Years of Maritime Continent, in addition to existing available observations, to diagnose the model biases and assess the relative impacts of the additional wind, temperature, and moisture information on the simulated diurnal cycle of precipitation over the western coast of Sumatra. We show how assimilating such high-frequency in situ observations can improve the simulated diurnal cycle, verified against satellite-derived precipitation, radar-derived precipitation, and rain gauge data. The improvements are due to a better representation of the sea breeze and increased available moisture in the lowest 4 km prior to peak convection. Assimilating wind information alone was sufficient to improve the simulations. We also highlight how during the assimilation, certain multivariate background error constraints and moisture addition in an ad hoc manner can negatively impact the simulations. Other approaches should be explored to better exploit information from such high-frequency observations over this region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (15) ◽  
pp. 6689-6705
Author(s):  
David Coppin ◽  
Gilles Bellon ◽  
Alexander Pletzer ◽  
Chris Scott

AbstractWe propose an algorithm to detect and track coastal precipitation systems and we apply it to 18 years of the high-resolution (8 km and 30 min) Climate Prediction Center CMORPH precipitation estimates in the tropics. Coastal precipitation in the Maritime Continent and Central America contributes to up to 80% of the total rainfall. It also contributes strongly to the diurnal cycle over land with the largest contribution from systems lasting between 6 and 12 h and contributions from longer-lived systems peaking later in the day. While the diurnal cycle of coastal precipitation is more intense over land in the summer hemisphere, its timing is independent of seasons over both land and ocean because the relative contributions from systems of different lifespans are insensitive to the seasonal cycle. We investigate the hypothesis that coastal precipitation is enhanced prior to the arrival of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) envelope over the Maritime Continent. Our results support this hypothesis and show that, when considering only coastal precipitation, the diurnal cycle appears reinforced even earlier over islands than previously reported. We discuss the respective roles of coastal and large-scale precipitation in the propagation of the MJO over the Maritime Continent. We also document a shift in diurnal cycle with the phases of the MJO, which results from changes in the relative contributions of short-lived versus long-lived coastal systems.


2005 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Poveda ◽  
Oscar J. Mesa ◽  
Luis F. Salazar ◽  
Paola A. Arias ◽  
Hernán A. Moreno ◽  
...  

Abstract Using hourly records from 51 rain gauges, spanning between 22 and 28 yr, the authors study the diurnal cycle of precipitation over the tropical Andes of Colombia. Analyses are developed for the seasonal march of the diurnal cycle and its interannual variability during the two phases of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Also, the diurnal cycle is analyzed at intra-annual time scales, associated with the westerly and easterly phases of the Madden–Julian oscillation, as well as higher-frequency variability (<10 days), mainly associated with tropical easterly wave activity during ENSO contrasting years. Five major general patterns are identified: (i) precipitation exhibits clear-cut diurnal (24 h) and semidiurnal (12 h) cycles; (ii) the minimum of daily precipitation is found during the morning hours (0900–1100 LST) regardless of season or location; (iii) a predominant afternoon peak is found over northeastern and western Colombia; (iv) over the western flank of the central Andes, precipitation maxima occur either near midnight, or during the afternoon, or both; and (v) a maximum of precipitation prevails near midnight amongst stations located on the eastern flank of the central Cordillera. The timing of diurnal maxima is highly variable in space for a fixed time, although a few coherent regions are found in small groups of rain gauges within the Cauca and Magdalena River valleys. Overall, the identified strong seasonal variability in the timing of rainfall maxima appears to exhibit no relationship with elevation on the Andes. The effects of both phases of ENSO are highly consistent spatially, as the amplitude of hourly and daily precipitation diminishes (increases) during El Niño (La Niña), but the phase remains unaltered for the entire dataset. We also found a generalized increase (decrease) in hourly and daily rainfall rates during the westerly (easterly) phase of the Madden–Julian oscillation, and a diminished (increased) high-frequency activity in July–October and February–April during El Niño (La Niña) years, associated, among others, with lower (higher) tropical easterly wave (4–6 day) activity over the Caribbean.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajda Savarin ◽  
Shuyi Chen

<p>Large-scale convection associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) initiates over the Indian Ocean and propagates eastward across the Maritime Continent (MC) into the western Pacific. As an MJO enters the MC, it often weakens or completely dissipates due to complex interactions between the large-scale MJO and the MC landmass and its topography. This is referred to as the MC barrier effect, and it is responsible for the dissipation of 40-50% of observed MJO events. One of the main reasons for the MJO’s weakening and dissipation over the MC is the diurnal cycle (DC), one of the strongest modes of variability in the region. Due to the complex nature of the MJO and the MC’s complicated topography, the interaction between the DC and the MJO is not well understood.</p><p>In this study, we examine the MJO-induced variability of the DC of precipitation over the MC. We use gridded satellite precipitation products (TRMM 3B42 and GPM IMERG) to: (1) track the MJO convective envelope using the Large-scale Precipitation Tracking algorithm (LPT), (2) analyze the changes in the DC of precipitation over the MC relative to the passage of the MJO. We find that the presence of an MJO not only increases the amount of precipitation over the MC, but that the increase is more pronounced over water than over land. The results from observations are compared to those from two reanalysis datasets (ERA5, MERRA-2). The reanalysis datasets are then used to examine the dynamic and thermodynamic changes that drive the variability in the DC of precipitation relative to the MJO. In addition, we separate MJO events into two groups based on whether they cross the MC, and independently examine their influences on the evolution of the DC of precipitation.</p>


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haochen Tan ◽  
Pallav Ray ◽  
Bradford Barrett ◽  
Jimy Dudhia ◽  
Mitchell Moncrieff ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 1474-1486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikiko Fujita ◽  
Fujio Kimura ◽  
Masanori Yoshizaki

Abstract This paper describes the formation mechanism of morning maximum in the diurnal cycle of precipitation, at the Strait of Malacca under a calm condition, with a nonhydrostatic mesoscale numerical model and ship-based observational data. The morning precipitation peak at the strait is induced by the convergence of two cold outflows that have been produced by the precipitation systems in the previous evening over Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. The outflows converge at the Strait of Malacca around midnight; a new precipitation system is thus generated and reaches its peak in the early morning. Sensitivity experiments using the numerical model suggest that the timing and position of the morning precipitation peak are affected by the width of the strait. In the case of the Strait of Malacca, its width favors the formation of the morning precipitation system around the center of the strait, which explains why its diurnal cycle of precipitation can be observed much clearer than those in other coastal areas over the Maritime Continent.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 579-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Majda ◽  
Qiu Yang

Abstract The eastward-propagating Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) typically exhibits complex behavior during its passage over the Maritime Continent, sometimes slowly propagating eastward and other times stalling and even terminating there with large amounts of rainfall. This is a huge challenge for present-day numerical models to simulate. One possible reason is the inadequate treatment of the diurnal cycle and its scale interaction with the MJO. Here these two components are incorporated into a simple self-consistent multiscale model that includes one model for the intraseasonal impact of the diurnal cycle and another one for the planetary/intraseasonal circulation. The latter model is forced self-consistently by eddy flux divergences of momentum and temperature from a model for the diurnal cycle with two baroclinic modes, which capture the intraseasonal impact of the diurnal cycle. The MJO is modeled as the planetary-scale circulation response to a moving heat source on the synoptic and planetary scales. The results show that the intraseasonal impact of the diurnal cycle during boreal winter tends to strengthen the westerlies (easterlies) in the lower (upper) troposphere in agreement with the observations. In addition, the temperature anomaly induced by the intraseasonal impact of the diurnal cycle can cancel that from the symmetric–asymmetric MJO with convective momentum transfer, yielding stalled or suppressed propagation of the MJO across the Maritime Continent. The simple multiscale model should be useful for the MJO in observations or more complex numerical models.


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