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Title: The Behaviors of Intraseasonal Cloud Organization During DYNAMO/AMIE

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  2. Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
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Abstract This study investigates the organization of tropical convection associated with the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) during the Dynamics of the MJO/Atmospheric Radiation Measurement MJO Investigation Experiment field campaign. While it is known that tropical clouds can organize and impact the large‐scale environment, how this occurs, and its underlying mechanism are not fully understood. Application of several existing cloud organization indices showed inconsistent evolutions in the measured degree of organization with the MJO. The inconsistency arises from the varying definitions and assumptions of cloud organization behaviors that are applied to each index. While these indices often combine different properties of clouds, such as their number density, size, and distance between them, the analysis of these properties separately provided further understanding of how clouds organize with the MJO. Using the rainfall clusters identified from the S‐Polka radar, we find that deep convective rainfall clusters begin to increase their number density before the arrival of MJO enhanced convective center, which is accompanied by increased proximity (shorter distance to each other) and followed by growth in their size. However, the nonrandomness in the spatial distribution of rainfall clusters maximizes as MJO convection decays. Deep convective clusters become the least randomly distributed as the clusters decay because of the suppression and decay of isolated deep convective cells, while clustered deep convective cells exist longer. This evolution of cloud organization is analogous to mesoscale convective systems, indicating that the duration and frequency of their organization stages are altered by the large‐scale environmental perturbations associated with the MJO.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Data Center; Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division
Contributing Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0020188
OSTI ID:
1856799
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1863145; OSTI ID: 1864732; OSTI ID: 1992885
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 127, Issue 7; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (16)

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
DYNAMO/AMIE
cloud organization
Madden-Julian Oscillation
tropical convection