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Role of delayed deep convection in the Madden-Julian oscillation

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Abstract

The power spectrum of Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) has a peculiar dispersion relation and is well separated from the convectively coupled equatorial waves (CCEWs). The authors present a theoretical model coupling the equatorial Rossby and Kelvin waves to understand this spectral feature of MJO. In this model, a delay process for triggering the deep convection from the additional planetary boundary layer (PBL) pumped moisture is implemented. This model has a moist Kelvin wave-like dispersion relation, and short waves grow fast when all moisture pumped by the PBL excites the deep convection instantly. When the moisture pumped by the PBL is delayed to stay in the lower troposphere for a time scale on the order of a day before triggering the deep convection, this model simulates a MJO-like mode, for which three features of the MJO, the peculiar dispersion relation, the horizontal quadrupole-vortex structure, and longest waves having maximum growth rate, have been simulated. Both moist Kelvin wave-like mode and MJO-like mode are simulated simultaneously when part of the deep convection is delayed, where the strong instability occurs at low-frequency long wavelength for the MJO-like mode and at high-frequency short wavelength for the moist Kelvin wave-like mode. These results suggest the importance of the delay process of deep convection in simulating the MJO.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB453200, 2012CB955604, and 2011CB309704), the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of China (41425019), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41275083 and 91337105). This paper is the ESMC Contribution No. 0061.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth System Modeling Center and Climate Dynamics Research Center, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Fei Liu & Zaoyang Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Gang Huang

  3. Joint Center for Global Change Studies (JCGCS), Beijing, 100875, China

    Gang Huang

Authors
  1. Fei Liu
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  2. Zaoyang Chen
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  3. Gang Huang
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Correspondence to Gang Huang.

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Liu, F., Chen, Z. & Huang, G. Role of delayed deep convection in the Madden-Julian oscillation. Theor Appl Climatol 126, 313–321 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1587-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1587-7

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