skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Comparison of Moist Static Energy and Budget between the GCM-Simulated Madden–Julian Oscillation and Observations over the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate, 26(14):4981-4993

The moist static energy (MSE) anomalies and MSE budget associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) simulated in the Iowa State University General Circulation Model (ISUGCM) over the Indian and Pacific Oceans are compared with observations. Different phase relationships between MJO 850-hPa zonal wind, precipitation, and surface latent heat flux are simulated over the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, which are greatly influenced by the convection closure, trigger conditions, and convective momentum transport (CMT). The moist static energy builds up from the lower troposphere 15–20 days before the peak of MJO precipitation, and reaches the maximum in the middle troposphere (500–600 hPa) near the peak of MJO precipitation. The gradual lower-tropospheric heating and moistening and the upward transport of moist static energy are important aspects of MJO events, which are documented in observational studies but poorly simulated in most GCMs. The trigger conditions for deep convection, obtained from the year-long cloud resolving model (CRM) simulations, contribute to the striking difference between ISUGCM simulations with the original and modified convection schemes and play the major role in the improved MJO simulation in ISUGCM. Additionally, the budget analysis with the ISUGCM simulations shows the increase in MJO MSE is in phase with the horizontal advection of MSE over the western Pacific, while out of phase with the horizontal advection of MSE over the Indian Ocean. However, the NCEP analysis shows that the tendency of MJO MSE is in phase with the horizontal advection of MSE over both oceans.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1177359
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-101186; KP1701000
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, 26(14):4981-4993, Journal Name: Journal of Climate, 26(14):4981-4993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Physical Mechanisms for the Maintenance of GCM-Simulated Madden-Julian Oscillation over the Indian Ocean and Pacific
Journal Article · Thu May 05 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Climate, 24(10):2469-2482 · OSTI ID:1177359

MM5 Modeling of the Madden-Julian Oscillation in the Indian and West Pacific Oceans: Model Description and Control Run Results
Journal Article · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2004 · Journal of Climate, 17(6):1320-1337 · OSTI ID:1177359

Convective Momentum Transport and Its Impact on the Madden‐Julian Oscillation in E3SM‐MMF
Journal Article · Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems · OSTI ID:1177359