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A mechanism for formation of the western North Pacific monsoon trough: nonlinear upscale cascade

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Abstract

Linear and nonlinear barotropic vorticity model frameworks are constructed to understand the formation of the monsoon trough in boreal summer over the western North Pacific. The governing equation is written with respect to specified zonal background flows, and a wave perturbation is prescribed in the eastern boundary. Whereas a uniform background mean flow leads no scale contraction, a confluent background zonal flow causes the contraction of zonal wavelength. Under linear dynamics, the wave contraction leads to the development of smaller scale vorticity perturbations. As a result, there is no upscale cascade. Under nonlinear dynamics, cyclonic (anticyclonic) wave disturbances shift northward (southward) away from the central latitude due to the vorticity segregation process. The merging of small-scale cyclonic and anticyclonic perturbations finally leads to the generation of a pair of large-scale cyclonic and anti-cyclonic vorticity gyres, straddling across the central latitude. The large-scale cyclonic circulation due to nonlinear upscale cascade can be further strengthened through a positive convection-circulation feedback.

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Acknowledgements

This study is jointly supported by NSFC Grants 42088101, 41630423 and 41875069, NSF Grant AGS-20-06553 and NOAA Grant NA18OAR4310298. This is SOEST contribution number 11229, IPRC contribution number 1499 and ESMC number 342.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME)/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center On Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

    Chi Qin, Tim Li, Jia Liu & Mingyu Bi

  2. International Pacific Research Center and Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Tim Li

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Correspondence to Tim Li.

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Qin, C., Li, T., Liu, J. et al. A mechanism for formation of the western North Pacific monsoon trough: nonlinear upscale cascade. Clim Dyn 56, 3889–3898 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-05672-5

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