Abstract
Based on the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM)-measured rainfall and estimated outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) fields, it is found that 2007–08 Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO07-08) went through blocking, splitting, and merging stages when it passed over the New Guinea Highlands (NGH). The TRMM-estimated OLR fields fail to capture detailed TRMM rainfall field and thus is not suitable to serve as proxy for rainfall, as also found in previous studies. The mechanism of orographic blocking is explained by strong orographic blocking on the incoming, low-Froude number, and moist flow, which belonged to the flow-around regime. This is evidenced by estimating the Froude number by upstream soundings. The strong blocking forced the flow to go around the mountains on NGH, leading to the splitting of flow and MJO precipitating system and the merging at the southeast tip of New Guinea. Orographic, MJO, and cyclone clouds were shown in both observed and model-simulated results. The major differences of the model-simulated and TRMM-measured precipitation are as follows: (a) the model-simulated rainfall area is much larger than that covered by the observed rainfall and (b) even though they both show comparable maximum rainfall rate, the rainfall estimated by TRMM reveals more localized rainfall spots, which is unexpected since the WRF simulation uses a relatively fine resolution (5 km). In summary, during the blocking stage, the mountains have slowed down the MJO propagation and increased the rainfall amount upstream of the local mountains, while during the splitting and merging stages, the mountains have made significant impacts on the MJO rainfall distribution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chang SWJ (1982) The orographic effects induced by an island mountain range on propagating tropical cyclones. Mon Wea Rev 110:1255–1270. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1982)110,1255:TOEIBA.2.0.CO;2
Chen SH, Lin YL (2005) Orographic effects on a conditionally unstable flow over an idealized three-dimensional mesoscale unstable mountain. Meteorol Atmos Phys 88:1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-017-0557-2
Chu CM, Lin YL (2000) Effects of orography on the generation and propagation of mesoscale convective systems in a two-dimensional conditionally unstable flow. J Atmos Sci 57:3817–3837. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(2001)057<3817:EOOOTG>2.0.CO;2
Emanuel KA (1994) Atmospheric convection. Oxford University Press, New York
Epifano CC (2003) Lee vortices. Encyclo Atmos Sci. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambrige
Glickman TS (2000) Glossary of Meteorology, 2nd edn. American Meteorology Society, Boston
Gottschalck J, Zhang Q, Wang W, L’Heureux M, Peng P (2008) MJO monitoring and assessment at the Climate Prediction Center and initial impressions of the CFS as an MJO forecast tool. NOAA CTB–COLA Joint Semin 15–22. https://www.nws.noaa.gov/ost/climate/STIP/CTB-COLA/Jon_042308.pdf). Accessed 1 July 2019
Hong S-Y, Lim J-OJ (2006) The WRF single-moment 6-class microphysics scheme (WSM6). J Korean Meteor Soc 42:129–151
Hsu HH, Lee MY (2005) Topographic effects on the eastward propagation and initiation of the Madden–Julian oscillation. J Clim 18:795–809. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3292.1
Huffman GJ, Bolvin DT, Nelkin EJ, Wolff DB, Adler RF, Gu G, Hong Y, Bowman KP, Stocker EF (2007) The TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis (TMPA): quasi-global, multiyear, combined-sensor precipitation estimates at fine scales. J Hydrometeor 8(1):38–55
Inness PM, Slingo JM (2006) The interaction of the Madden–Julian oscillation with the maritime continent in a GCM. Q J R Meteorol Soc 132:1645–1667. https://doi.org/10.1256/qj.05.102
Jiang LC (2012) The interaction between the MJO and topography: Using high resolution data. Master Thesis, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, 82pp
Kim D, Kim H, Lee MI (2017) Why does the MJO detour the maritime continent during austral summer? Geophys Res Lett 44:2579–2587. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072643
Lin YL (2007) Mesoscale dynamics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Lin YL, Chen SH, Liu L (2016) Orographic effects on track deflection of an idealized tropical cyclone passing over a mesoscale mountain range. J Atmos Sci 73:3951–3974. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-15-0252.1
Ling J, Zhang C, Joyce R, Xie P-P, Chen G (2019) Possible role of the diurnal cycle in land convection in the barrier effect on the MJO by the maritime continent. Geophys Res Lett 46:3001–3011. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL081962
Matthews AJ, Pickup G, Peatman SC, Clews P, Martin J (2013) The effect of the Madden-Julian oscillation on station rainfall and river level in the fly river system, Papua New Guinea. J Geophys Res Atmos 118:10926–10935. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50865
Monier E, Weare BC, Gustafson WI (2010) The Madden–Julian oscillation wind-convection coupling and the role of moisture processes in the MM5 model. Clim Dyn 35:435–447. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-009-0626-4
Peatman SC, Matthews AJ, Stevens DP (2014) Propagation of the Madden–Julian oscillation through the maritime continent and scale interaction with the diurnal cycle of precipitation. Q J R Meteorol Soc 140:814–825. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2161
Rauniyar SP, Walsh KJE (2013) Influence of ENSO on the diurnal cycle of rainfall over the maritime continent. J Climate 26:1304–1321. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00124.1
Simpson J, Kummerow C, Tao WK, Adler RF (1996) On the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM). Meteorol Atmos Phys 60(1):19–36
Skamarock WC, Klemp JB, Dudhia J, Gill DO, Barker DM, Duda MG, Huang XY, Wang W, Powers JG (2008) A description of the advanced research WRF version 3. NCAR Tech Note. https://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/arw_v3.pdf. Accessed 7 Mar 2016
Smith RB (1989) Hydrostatic airflow over mountains Adv Geophys 31:1–41
Smolarkiewicz PK, Rotunno R (1989) Low Froude number flow past three-dimensional obstacles. Part I: Baroclinically generated lee vortices. J Atmos Sci 46:1154–1164. http://doi.org/10.1175/1520–0469(1989)046<1154:LFNFPT>2.0.CO;2
Tseng W-L, Hsu H-H, Keenlyside N, Chang C-WJ, Tsuang B-J, Tu C-Y, Jiang L-C (2017) Effects of surface orography and land-sea contrast on the Madden-Julian oscillation in the maritime continent: a numerical study using ECHAM5-SIT. J Clim 30:9725–9741. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0051.1
Wikipedia (2018) Cyclone Helen (2008). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Helen_(2008). Accessed 23 May 2018
Wu CH, Hsu HH (2009) Topographic influence on the MJO in the Maritime Continent. J Clim 22:5433–5448. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2825.1
Zhang C, Ling J (2017) Barrier Effect of the Indo-Pacific maritime continent on the MJO: perspectives from tracking MJO Precipitation. J Clim 30:3439–3459. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0614.1
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Drs. J. Zhang, A. Mekonnen, and L. Liu at the North Carolina A&T State University for their insightful discussions and comments on this paper. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Award AGS-1265783, HRD-1036563, OCI-1126543, and CNS-1429464.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Emilia Kyung Jin.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lin, YL., Agyakwah, W., Riley, J.G. et al. Orographic effects on the propagation and rainfall modification associated with the 2007–08 Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) past the New Guinea Highlands. Meteorol Atmos Phys 133, 359–378 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-020-00753-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-020-00753-2