Identification

Title

Tropical oceanic rainfall and sea surface temperature structure: Parsing causation from correlation in the MJO

Abstract

Based upon on the findings of Y. Li and R. E. Carbone, the association of tropical rainfall with SST structure is further explored, with emphasis on the MJO passband. Analyses include the tropical Indian Ocean, Maritime Continent, and tropical western Pacific regions. The authors examine the anomalies of and correlations between SST structure, the frequency of rainfall events, and rainfall amount. Based on detailed examination of a 49-month time series, all findings are statistical inferences and interpretations consistent with established theory. The statistical inferences are broadly consistent with a pivotal role played by the convergent Laplacian of SST together with an expected, but somewhat indirect, role of SST itself. The main role of SST in the MJO passband appears limited to production of moist static energy, which is highly correlated with cumulative precipitation, yet bears a decidedly conditional relationship to the occurrence of rainfall. If rain occurs, then more rain is likely over warmer SST. The convergent Laplacian of SST is strongly associated with the onset of rainfall, apparently through its capacity to induce vertical air motion with sufficient kinetic energy to overcome convective inhibition in a conditionally unstable troposphere. The convergent Laplacian of SST is directly associated with the location and the variability of rainfall event frequency while having a less direct relationship to cumulative rainfall. These nuanced interpretations of rainfall forcing by the Laplacian of SST, and conditional modulation of cumulative rainfall by SST, may underlie systematic errors in highly parameterized models as a consequence of variable asymmetry in the field of Laplacian anomalies.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7v69ksq

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-07-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright 2015 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact