Regional Heat Sources and the Active and Break Phases of Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Variability
The boreal summer intraseasonal variability (BSISV) associated with the 30-50 day mode is represented by the co-existence of three components, poleward propagation of convection over the Indian and tropical west Pacific longitudes and eastward propagation along the equator. The hypothesis that the three components influence each other has been investigated using observed OLR, NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, and solutions from an idealized linear model. The null hypothesis is that the three components are mutually independent. Cyclostationary EOF (CsEOF) analysis is applied on filtered OLR to extract the life-cycle of the BSISV. The dominant mode of CsEOF is significantly tied to observed rainfall over the Indian subcontinent. The components of the heating patterns from CsEOF analysis serve as prescribed forcings for the linear model. This allows us to ascertain which heat sources and sinks are instrumental in driving the large-scale monsoon circulation during the BSISV life-cycle. We identify three new findings: (1) the circulation anomalies that develop as a Rossby wave response to suppressed convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean associated with the previous break phase of the BSISV precondition the ocean-atmosphere system in the western Indian Ocean and trigger the next active phase of the BSISV, (2) the development of convection over the tropical west Pacific forces descent anomalies to the west. This, in conjunction with the weakened cross-equatorial flow due to suppressed convective anomalies over the equatorial Indian Ocean reduce the tropospheric moisture over the Arabian Sea, and promote westerly wind anomalies that do not recurve over India. As a result the low-level cyclonic vorticity shifts from India to southeast Asia and break conditions are initiated over India, and (3) the circulation anomalies forced by equatorial Indian Ocean convective anomalies significantly influence the active/break phases over the tropical west Pacific. Our model solutions support the hypothesis that the three components of the BSISV influence each other.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 859923
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JRNL-201505
- Journal Information:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Journal Name: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Vol. 62; ISSN 0022-4928; ISSN JAHSAK
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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