Intraseasonal and submonthly variability over the Eastern Amazon and Northeast Brazil during the autumn rainy season

Summary

The precipitation variability over the eastern Amazon (EAM) and northeast Brazil (NEB) during the autumn rainy season (March to May) is diagnosed using raingauge-based weekly data from 1982 to 2001. Since precipitation in this region is remarkably modulated by the combined effects of the Pacific and Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies, two extreme and contrasting large-scale climatic scenarios are considered in this study. The unfavorable (UNFAV) scenario, defined by the simultaneous occurrences of the El Niño and northward SST gradient in the intertropical Atlantic and the favorable (FAV) scenario, by the simultaneous occurrence of the La Niña and southward SST gradient in the intertropical Atlantic. UNFAV (FAV) composites with unfiltered data show remarkable changes in both the Walker and the Hadley cells associated with the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) anomalously weakened (enhanced) thus with deficient (abundant) seasonal rainfall in most of the EAM/NEB. Precipitation variability is identified objectively through EOF analyses performed on the (30–70 day) intraseasonal and submonthly (蠄21 day) filtered weekly precipitation anomalies for 18 autumn seasons (1983 to 2000). The principal components (PC) of the first mode of each analysis show strong oscillations. In particular, the oscillations of the PC series during UNFAV and FAV years reveal that events with anomalously deficient and abundant precipitation over the EAM/NEB occur alternately, even under extreme climatic conditions in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic. Composites based on events with anomalously increased precipitation (objectively selected from the PC series) on intraseasonal and submonthly scales are analyzed separately for the UNFAV and FAV years. These analyses show that for both scenarios the more important rainfall-producing atmospheric mechanism over the EAM/NEB on intraseasonal time scales consists of the establishment of deep convective bands trigged by South Atlantic Convergence Zone events or persistent frontal systems over northeast Brazil. Such a regional pattern is embedded in a large-scale dynamic environment related to the propagation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation over tropical South America. On the other hand, the main rainfall-producing atmospheric mechanism over the EAM/NEB on submonthly time scales is the Atlantic ITCZ during FAV years, whilst weakened Atlantic ITCZ activity may be forced by meridionally elongated mid-latitude wave trains in the upper troposphere during UNFAV years.