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Impacts of upscale heat and momentum transfer by moist Kelvin waves on the Madden–Julian oscillation: a theoretical model study

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Abstract

The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is observed to interact with moist Kelvin waves. To understand the role of this interaction, a simple scale-interaction model is built, which describes the MJO modulation of moist Kelvin waves and the feedback from moist Kelvin waves through upscale eddy heat and momentum transfer. The backward-tilted moist Kelvin waves produce eddy momentum transfer (EMT) characterized by the lower-tropospheric westerly winds and eddy heat transfer (EHT) that warms the mid-troposphere. The EHT tends to induce the lower-tropospheric easterly winds and low pressure, which is located in front of the “westerly wind burst” induced by the EMT. Adding the eddy forcing to a neutral MJO skeleton model, we show that the EHT provides an instability source for the MJO by warming up the mid-troposphere, and the EMT offers an additional instability source by enhancing the lower-tropospheric westerly winds. The eddy forcing selects eastward propagation for the unstable mode, because it generates positive/negative eddy available potential energy for the eastward/westward modes by changing their thermal and dynamical structures. The present results show that moist Kelvin waves can provide a positive feedback to the MJO only when they are located within (or near) the convective complex (center) of the MJO. The EHT and EMT feedback works positively in the front and rear part of the MJO, respectively. These theoretical results suggest the potential importance of moist Kelvin waves in sustaining the MJO and encourage further observations to document the relationship between moist Kelvin waves and the MJO.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank two anonymous reviews for their comments and suggestions. This study was supported by Climate Dynamics Program of the National Science Foundation under award No AGS-1005599 and Global Research Laboratory (GRL) Program from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST), Korea. Additional support was provided by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), by NASA through grant NNX07AG53G, and by NOAA through grant NA17RJ1230 through their sponsorship of research activities at the International Pacific Research Center. This paper is the SOEST Contribution No. 8551 and IPRC publication No. 839.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Fei Liu & Bin Wang

  2. Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 401 POST Bldg, 1680 East–West Road, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Bin Wang

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  1. Fei Liu
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  2. Bin Wang
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Correspondence to Bin Wang.

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Liu, F., Wang, B. Impacts of upscale heat and momentum transfer by moist Kelvin waves on the Madden–Julian oscillation: a theoretical model study. Clim Dyn 40, 213–224 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1281-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1281-0

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