scholarly journals Moist Thermodynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation in a Cloud-Resolving Simulation

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (21) ◽  
pp. 5571-5583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samson Hagos ◽  
L. Ruby Leung

Abstract The moist thermodynamic processes that determine the time scale and energy of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) are investigated using moisture and eddy available potential energy budget analyses on a cloud-resolving simulation. Two MJO episodes observed during the winter of 2007/08 are realistically simulated. During the inactive phase, moisture supplied by meridional moisture convergence and boundary layer diffusion generates shallow and congestus clouds that moisten the lower troposphere while horizontal mixing tends to dry it. As the lower troposphere is moistened, it becomes a source of moisture for the subsequent deep convection during the MJO active phase. As the active phase ends, the lower troposphere dries out primarily by condensation and horizontal divergence that dominates over the moisture supply by vertical transport. In the simulation, the characteristic time scales of convective vertical transport, mixing, and condensation of moisture in the midtroposphere are estimated to be about 2 days, 4 days, and 20 h respectively. The small differences among these time scales result in an effective time scale of MJO moistening of about 25 days, half the period of the simulated MJO. Furthermore, various cloud types have a destabilizing or damping effect on the amplitude of MJO temperature signals, depending on their characteristic latent heating profile and its temporal covariance with the temperature. The results are used to identify possible sources of the difficulties in simulating MJO in low-resolution models that rely on cumulus parameterizations.

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 3342-3356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Deng ◽  
Sally A. McFarlane ◽  
Julia E. Flaherty

Abstract Ground-based high temporal and vertical resolution datasets from observations during 2002–07 at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) tropical western Pacific (TWP) site on Manus Island are used to examine the characteristics of clouds and rainfall associated with the active phase of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) passing over Manus. A composite MJO event at Manus is developed based on the NOAA MJO index 4 and precipitation using 13 events. The cloud characteristics associated with the active phase of the MJO at Manus show a two-phase structure as the wave passes over Manus. During the development phase, congestus plays an important role, and the enhanced convection is located between surface westerly and easterly wind anomalies (type-I structure). During the mature phase, deep convection is the dominant cloud type, and the enhanced convection is collocated with the westerly wind anomalies (type-II structure). Consistent with this two-phase structure, the heavy rainfall frequency also shows a two-peak structure during the MJO disturbance, while light rainfall does not show a clear relation to the intraseasonal disturbance associated with the MJO. In addition, a positive relationship between the precipitation rate and precipitable water vapor exists at Manus, and the atmospheric column is less moist after the passing of the MJO convection center than before.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 598-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Johnson ◽  
Paul E. Ciesielski ◽  
James H. Ruppert ◽  
Masaki Katsumata

Abstract The Dynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign, conducted over the Indian Ocean from October 2011 to March 2012, was designed to study the initiation of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). Two prominent MJOs occurred in the experimental domain during the special observing period in October and November. Data from a northern and a southern sounding array (NSA and SSA, respectively) have been used to investigate the apparent heat sources and sinks (Q1 and Q2) and radiative heating rates QR throughout the life cycles of the two MJO events. The MJO signal was far stronger in the NSA than the SSA. Time series of Q1, Q2, and the vertical eddy flux of moist static energy reveal an evolution of cloud systems for both MJOs consistent with prior studies: shallow, nonprecipitating cumulus during the suppressed phase, followed by cumulus congestus, then deep convection during the active phase, and finally stratiform precipitation. However, the duration of these phases was shorter for the November MJO than for the October event. The profiles of Q1 and Q2 for the two arrays indicate a greater stratiform rain fraction for the NSA than the SSA—a finding supported by TRMM measurements. Surface rainfall rates and net tropospheric QR determined as residuals from the budgets show good agreement with satellite-based estimates. The cloud radiative forcing was approximately 20% of the column-integrated convective heating and of the same amplitude as the normalized gross moist stability, leaving open the possibility of radiative–convective instability for the two MJOs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 3780-3799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Hyun Oh ◽  
Xianan Jiang ◽  
Duane E. Waliser ◽  
Mitchell W. Moncrieff ◽  
Richard H. Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract The Dynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign was conducted over the Indian Ocean (IO) from October 2011 to February 2012 to investigate the initiation of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). Three MJOs accompanying westerly wind events (WWEs) occurred in late October, late November, and late December 2011. Momentum budget analysis is conducted to understand the contributions of the dynamical processes involved in the wind evolution associated with the MJO over the IO during DYNAMO using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analysis. This analysis shows that westerly acceleration at lower levels associated with the MJO active phase generally appears to be maintained by the pressure gradient force (PGF), which could be partly canceled by meridional advection of the zonal wind. Westerly acceleration in the midtroposphere tends to be mostly attributable to vertical advection. The results herein imply that there is no simple linear dynamic model that can capture the WWEs associated with the MJO and that nonlinear processes have to be considered. In addition, the MJO in November (MJO2), accompanied by two WWEs (WWE1 and WWE2) spaced a few days apart, is diagnosed. Unlike other WWEs during DYNAMO, horizontal advection is more responsible for the westerly acceleration in the lower troposphere for WWE2 than the PGF. Interactions between the MJO2 envelope and convectively coupled waves (CCWs) are analyzed to illuminate the dynamical contribution of these synoptic-scale equatorial waves to the WWEs. The authors suggest that different developing processes among WWEs can be attributed to different types of CCWs.


2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 3297-3312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Thayer-Calder ◽  
David A. Randall

Abstract This study compares two models that differ primarily in their cloud parameterizations and produce extremely different simulations of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) version 3.0 from NCAR uses the Zhang–McFarlane scheme for deep convection and does not produce an MJO. The “superparameterized” version of the CAM (SP-CAM) replaces the cloud parameterizations with a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model (CRM) in each grid column and produces an extremely vigorous MJO. This analysis shows that the CAM is unable to produce high-humidity regions in the mid- to lower troposphere because of a lack of coupling between parameterized convection and environmental relative humidity. The SP-CAM produces an overly moist column due in part to excessive near-surface winds and evaporation during strong convective events. In the real tropics and the SP-CAM, convection within a high-humidity environment produces intense latent heating, which excites the large-scale circulation that is the signature of the MJO. The authors suggest that a model must realistically represent convective processes that moisten the entire tropical troposphere in order to produce a simulation of the MJO.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Pohl ◽  
N. Fauchereau ◽  
C. J. C. Reason ◽  
M. Rouault

Abstract The Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) is the leading mode of atmospheric variability in the Southern Hemisphere mid- and high latitudes (south of 20°S). In this paper, the authors examine its statistical relationships with the major tropical climate signals at the intraseasonal and interannual time scales and their consequences on its potential influence on rainfall variability at regional scales. At the intraseasonal time scale, although the AAO shows its most energetic fluctuations in the 30–60-day range, it is not unambiguously related to the global-scale Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) activity, with in particular no coherent phase relationship with the MJO index. Moreover, in the high southern latitudes, the MJO-associated anomaly fields do not appear to project coherently on the well-known AAO patterns and are never of an annular nature. At the interannual time scale, a strong teleconnection with ENSO is found during the peak of the austral summer season, corroborating previous studies. El Niño (La Niña) tends to correspond to a negative (positive) AAO phase. The results are statistically significant only when the seasonal mean fields averaged for the November through February season are considered. Based on these results, the authors then isolate the specific influence of the AAO on rainfall variability at both intraseasonal and interannual time scales. The example taken here is southern Africa, a region under the influence of both the MJO and ENSO, experiencing its main rainy season in austral summer and containing a relatively dense network of rain gauge measurements. At the interannual time scale, the significance of the teleconnections between southern African rainfall and the AAO reveals itself to be a statistical artifact and becomes very weak once the influence of ENSO is removed. At the intraseasonal time scale, the AAO is seen to significantly affect the rainfall amounts over much of the country, without interference with other modes of variability. Its influence in modulating the rain appears to be strongest during La Niña years.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 2843-2846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya Legg

Abstract A recent numerical study by Noh et al. of open-ocean deep convection in the presence of a single geostrophic eddy showed that two possible regimes exist: 1) the localized convection regime in which baroclinic instability of the eddy dominates, with slantwise fluxes and restratification, and 2) the distributed convection regime in which vertical mixing dominates. Noh et al. found that localized convection dominates for relatively small buoyancy forcing, strong eddies, and strong surface ambient stratification. Here it is shown that this regime transition can be expressed in terms of a ratio of time scales: the localized convection regime appears when the time scale for lateral fluxes from eddy interior to exterior tL is short in comparison with the time scale for convective erosion of the exterior stratification tc. Scaling arguments give this ratio of time scales as tL/tc ∼ f β2R2B/(A2γ) where f is the Coriolis parameter, R is the radius of the eddy, B is the buoyancy forcing, 1/β is the depth scale of the exponentially decaying surface-intensified stratification, γ is the relative amplitude of the eddy, and Aβ is the value of the surface stratification N20. Comparison with the numerical simulations of Noh et al. shows that this parameter does indeed separate the localized and distributed convection regimes, with the transition occurring at tL/tc ≈ 0.05–0.1.


GPS Solutions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Sesia ◽  
Giovanna Signorile ◽  
Tung Thanh Thai ◽  
Pascale Defraigne ◽  
Patrizia Tavella

AbstractWe present two different approaches to broadcasting information to retrieve the GNSS-to-GNSS time offsets needed by users of multi-GNSS signals. Both approaches rely on the broadcast of a single time offset of each GNSS time versus one common time scale instead of broadcasting the time offsets between each of the constellation pairs. The first common time scale is the average of the GNSS time scales, and the second time scale is the prediction of UTC already broadcast by the different systems. We show that the average GNSS time scale allows the estimation of the GNSS-to-GNSS time offset at the user level with the very low uncertainty of a few nanoseconds when the receivers at both the provider and user levels are fully calibrated. The use of broadcast UTC prediction as a common time scale has a slightly larger uncertainty, which depends on the broadcast UTC prediction quality, which could be improved in the future. This study focuses on the evaluation of two different common time scales, not considering the impact of receiver calibration, at the user and provider levels, which can nevertheless have an important impact on GNSS-to-GNSS time offset estimation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Cheng Wan ◽  
Andrew W. Mchill ◽  
Elizabeth B. Klerman ◽  
Akane Sano

Circadian rhythms influence multiple essential biological activities, including sleep, performance, and mood. The dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) is the gold standard for measuring human circadian phase (i.e., timing). The collection of DLMO is expensive and time consuming since multiple saliva or blood samples are required overnight in special conditions, and the samples must then be assayed for melatonin. Recently, several computational approaches have been designed for estimating DLMO. These methods collect daily sampled data (e.g., sleep onset/offset times) or frequently sampled data (e.g., light exposure/skin temperature/physical activity collected every minute) to train learning models for estimating DLMO. One limitation of these studies is that they only leverage one time-scale data. We propose a two-step framework for estimating DLMO using data from both time scales. The first step summarizes data from before the current day, whereas the second step combines this summary with frequently sampled data of the current day. We evaluate three moving average models that input sleep timing data as the first step and use recurrent neural network models as the second step. The results using data from 207 undergraduates show that our two-step model with two time-scale features has statistically significantly lower root-mean-square errors than models that use either daily sampled data or frequently sampled data.


Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 1181-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E Waggoner ◽  
Laura Anne Hardaker ◽  
Steven Golik ◽  
William R Schafer

Abstract Egg-laying behavior in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans involves fluctuation between alternative behavioral states: an inactive state, during which eggs are retained in the uterus, and an active state, during which eggs are laid in bursts. We have found that the flp-1 gene, which encodes a group of structurally related neuropeptides, functions specifically to promote the switch from the inactive to the active egg-laying state. Recessive mutations in flp-1 caused a significant increase in the duration of the inactive phase, yet egg-laying within the active phase was normal. This pattern resembled that previously observed in mutants defective in the biosynthesis of serotonin, a neuromodulator implicated in induction of the active phase. Although flp-1 mutants were sensitive to stimulation of egg-laying by serotonin, the magnitude of their serotonin response was abnormally low. Thus, the flp-1-encoded peptides and serotonin function most likely function in concert to facilitate the onset of the active egg-laying phase. Interestingly, we observed that flp-1 is necessary for animals to down-regulate their rate of egg-laying in the absence of food. Because flp-1 is known to be expressed in interneurons that are postsynaptic to a variety of chemosensory cells, the FLP-1 peptides may function to regulate the activity of the egg-laying circuitry in response to sensory cues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (12) ◽  
pp. 5155-5172
Author(s):  
Quentin Jamet ◽  
William K. Dewar ◽  
Nicolas Wienders ◽  
Bruno Deremble ◽  
Sally Close ◽  
...  

AbstractMechanisms driving the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) variability at low frequency are of central interest for accurate climate predictions. Although the subpolar gyre region has been identified as a preferred place for generating climate time-scale signals, their southward propagation remains under consideration, complicating the interpretation of the observed time series provided by the Rapid Climate Change–Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array–Western Boundary Time Series (RAPID–MOCHA–WBTS) program. In this study, we aim at disentangling the respective contribution of the local atmospheric forcing from signals of remote origin for the subtropical low-frequency AMOC variability. We analyze for this a set of four ensembles of a regional (20°S–55°N), eddy-resolving (1/12°) North Atlantic oceanic configuration, where surface forcing and open boundary conditions are alternatively permuted from fully varying (realistic) to yearly repeating signals. Their analysis reveals the predominance of local, atmospherically forced signal at interannual time scales (2–10 years), whereas signals imposed by the boundaries are responsible for the decadal (10–30 years) part of the spectrum. Due to this marked time-scale separation, we show that, although the intergyre region exhibits peculiarities, most of the subtropical AMOC variability can be understood as a linear superposition of these two signals. Finally, we find that the decadal-scale, boundary-forced AMOC variability has both northern and southern origins, although the former dominates over the latter, including at the site of the RAPID array (26.5°N).


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