The Wavenumber-Frequency Characteristics of the Tropical Waves in an Aqua-Planet GCM

Based on the aqua-planet experiments, the wavenumber-frequency characteristics of tropical waves and their influencing factors in SST distribution and the convective parameterization scheme are investigated using the spectral atmospheric general circulation model （SAMIL）. Space-time spectral analysis is used to obtain the variance of convectively coupled tropical waves. In the Control experiment with maximum SST located at the equator the simulated tropical-wave behaviors are in agreement with those in observations and theoretical solutions. When the maximum SST is located at 5°N, the symmetric and antisymmetric waves are much weaker than those in the control experiment, suggesting that tropical wave activities are very sensitive to the SST distributions. Importantly, the variance maximum of Madden-Julian oscillation （MJO） is found to occur around 5°N, which suggests that the development of the MJO depends largely on the latitude of maximum SST. Furthermore, the seasonal variations of MJO may be mainly caused by the seasonal variations of the maximum SST. The experiment results with two different cumulus schemes the Manabe moist convective adjustment and Zhang-McFarlane （ZM） convective scheme, were also compared to examine the impacts of convective parameterization. Weakened variances of each individual tropical wave when the ZM scheme is used suggest that the ZM scheme is not favorable for the tropical wave activities. However, the wave characteristics are different when the ZM scheme is used in different models, which may imply that the simulated basic state is important to the meridional distributions of the waves. The MJO signals suggest that the parameterization scheme may have great influence on the strength, but have less direct impact on the MJO distribution. The frequency of the tropical waves may be associated with the moisture control of convection and the large-scale condensation scheme used in the model.

Three Types of Tropical Waves Related to Tropical Cyclogenesis over the Western North Pacific

The present study applies a space-time filter to identify three dominant types of tropical waves: Madden-Julian oscillations (MJOs), equatorial Rossby (ER) waves, and tropical depression (TD)-type disturbances. The impacts of these waves on tropical cyclones (TCs) were investigated based on 131 observations during the period 2000 07. The results suggest that 72% of TC geneses were related to the joint impacts of more than one type of wave. The composites for cases in different categories reveal that TCs related to the concurrence of the three types of waves have strong and large initial vortices at the time of TC genesis. In the absence of the MJO, ERand TD-related TC genesis, embedded in easterly flow, exhibits a relatively fast initiation process and gives rise to a relatively small scale vortex. In contrast, without the ER wave contribution, TCs associated with ER and TD waves did not require strong convection at the time of genesis because an initial vortex can rapidly develop in the MJO active phase through persistent energy transfer. The MJO-related TC geneses were scattered in geographic distribution, as opposed to the clustered and eastward shift observed for genesis cases without contributions from MJOs.

An Assessment of MJO and Tropical Waves Simulated by Different Versions of the GAMIL Model

Simulated outgoing longwave radiation （OLR） outputs by two versions of the grid-point atmospheric general circulation model （GAMIL） were analyzed to assess the influences of improvements in cloud microphysics and convective parameterization schemes on the simulation of the Madden-Julian oscillation （MJO） and other tropical waves. The wavenumber-frequency spectral analysis was applied to isolate dominant modes of convectively coupled equatorial waves, including the M30, Kelvin, equatorial Rossby （ER）, mixed Rossby-gravity （MRG）, and inertio-gravity （1G） waves. The performances of different versions of the GAMIL model （version 1.0 （GAMIL1.0） and version 2.0 （GAMIL2.0）） were evalu- ated by comparing the power spectrum distributions of these waves among GAMIL 1.0, GAMIL2.0, and observational data. GAMIL1.0 shows a weak MJO signal, with the maximum variability occurring separately at wavenumbers 1 and 4 rather than being concentrated on wavenumbers 1-3, suggesting that GAMILI.0 could not effectively capture the intraseasonal variability. However, GAMIL2.0 is able to effectively reproduce both the symmetric and anti-symmetric waves, and the significant spectra of the MJO, Kelvin, and MRG waves are in agreement with observational data, indicating that the ability of GAMIL2.0 to simulate the MJO and other tropical waves is enhanced by improving the cloud microphysics and convective parameterization schemes and implying that such improvements are crucial to further improving this model＇s performance.

Delayed Seasonal Transition of Tropical Wave Activity in the CMIP3 Global Climate Models

This study evaluates the seasonal cycle of the activity of convectively coupled equatorial waves(CCEWs),including mixed Rossby-gravity(MRG) and tropical depression-type(TD-type) waves,based on the twentieth century experiments of 18 global climate models(GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3(CMIP3).The ensemble result of the 18 GCMs shows that the observed seasonal cycle of MRG and TD-type wave activity cannot be well reproduced.The seasonal transition of wave activity from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere is delayed from April in the observations to May in the simulations,indicating that the simulated active season of tropical waves in the northern hemisphere is delayed and shortened.This delayed seasonal transition of tropical wave activity is associated with a delayed seasonal transition of simulated mean precipitation.The mean precipitation in April and May shows a double-ITCZ problem,and the horizontal resolution is important to the delayed seasonal transition of wave activity.Because of the coincident seasonal cycle of MRG and TD-type wave activity and tropical cyclone(TC) geneses,the delayed seasonal transition of wave activity may imply a similar problem of TC genesis in the GCMs,namely,a delayed and shortened TC season in the northern hemisphere.

Contrasts of bimodal tropical instability waves(TIWs)-induced wind stress perturbations in the Pacific Ocean among observations,ocean models,and coupled climate models

The coupling between wind stress perturbations and sea surface temperature(SST)perturbations induced by tropical instability waves(TIWs)in the Pacific Ocean has been revealed previously and proven crucial to both the atmosphere and ocean.However,an overlooked fact by previous studies is that the loosely defined“TIWs”actually consist of two modes,including the Yanai wave-based TIW on the equator(hereafter eTIW)and the Rossby wave-based TIW off the equator(hereafter vTIW).Hence,the individual feedbacks of the wind stress to the bimodal TIWs remain unexplored.In this study,individual coupling relationships are established for both eTIW and v TIW,including the relationship between the TIW-induced SST perturbations and two components of wind stress perturbations,and the relationship between the TIW-induced wind stress perturbation divergence(curl)and the downwind(crosswind)TIW-induced SST gradients.Results show that,due to different distributions of eTIW and vTIW,the coupling strength induced by the eTIW is stronger on the equator,and that by the vTIW is stronger off the equator.The results of any of eTIW and vTIW are higher than those of the loosely defined TIWs.We further investigated how well the coupling relationships remained in several widely recognized oceanic general circulation models and fully coupled climate models.However,the coupling relationships cannot be well represented in most numerical models.Finally,we confirmed that higher resolution usually corresponds to more accurate simulation.Therefore,the coupling models established in this study are complementary to previous research and can be used to refine the oceanic and coupled climate models.

Unstable Tropical Air-Sea Interaction Waves and Their Physical Mechanisms

In this paper, the tropical air-sea interaction is discussed by using a simple air-sea coupled model, in which the inertia-gravity waves are filtered off and only the equatorial Rossby waves are reserved in both the atmosphere and the ocean. There exist two kinds of air-sea interaction waves in the coupled model, that is, the high-frequency fast waves and the low-frequency slow waves. The phase speed of the fast waves is westward and the frequencies are close to those of the equatorial Rossby waves in the atmosphere. The slow waves propagate westward in the part of short wavelengths and eastward in that of long wavelengths. There exist instabilities for both the westward and eastward propagating slow waves. If the fast waves are filtered off, there is little effect on the slow waves which have great influence on the long range process in the tropical air-sea coupled system. According to the tropical air-sea interaction waves we obtain here, a possible explanation to the propagating process of ENSO events is given.

ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PROPAGATION OF INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATIONS AND THEIR OBSERVED ASSOCIATION WITH TROPICAL SYNOPTIC WAVES IN THE ASIAN-WESTERN PACIFIC REGION IN BOREAL SUMMER

Using the daily average outgoing longwave radiation and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data in boreal summer(Mays to Octobers)from 1979 to 2007,the propagating characteristics of convection intraseasonal oscillations(ISOs)in the Asian-western Pacific(AWP)region and the relationship between tropical synoptic waves and ISOs are examined by means of finite-domain wavenumber-frequency energy spectrum analysis and lagged linear regression technique.The results are shown as follows.(1)The AWP ISOs propagate both eastward and westward,showing seasonality and regionality.The ISOs propagate eastward with a period of 30 to 60 days over equatorial regions in the whole AWP region,while the westward propagation occurs over 10 to 20°N western Pacific or in the late summers(August,September and October) with periods of 20 to 40 days.The ISOs eastward propagation mainly occurs in primary summers while the westward propagation enhances in late summers.(2)Deep ISO convections associate with westerly and cyclonic circulation anomalies that first form in the Indian Ocean,propagate eastward to the dateline in the Pacific and then turn northwestward.The ISOs convections show northwestward propagating characteristics in the western North Pacific.(3)The ISOs link with the tropical synoptic waves closely.Both convection signals,though with different spatio-temporal scale,enhance simutaneously in the northwestern Pacific,and the ISOs facilitate the forming of a cluster of tropical cyclones(TCs),while a cluster of TCs convection becomes one portion of the northwestward ISOs.

Simulating Tropical Instability Waves in the Equatorial Eastern Pacific with a Coupled General Circulation Model

Satellite observations of SSTs have revealed the existence of unstable waves in the equatorial eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. These waves have a 20-40-day periodicity with westward phase speeds of 0.4-0.6 m s^-1 and wavelengths of 1000-2000 km during boreal summer and fall. They are generally called tropical instability waves （TIWs）. This study investigates TIWs simulated by a high-resolution coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model （AOGCM）. The horizontal resolution of the model is 120 km in the atmosphere, and 30 km longitude by 20 km latitude in the ocean. Model simulations show good agreement with the observed main features associated with TIWs. The results of energetics analysis reveal that barotropic energy conversion is responsible for providing the main energy source for TIWs by extracting energy from the meridional shear of the climatological-mean equatorial currents in the mixed layer. This deeper and northward-extended wave activity appears to gain its energy through baroclinic conversion via buoyancy work, which further contributes to the asymmetric distribution of TIWs. It is estimated that the strong cooling effect induced by equatorial upwelling is partially （-30%-40%） offset by the equatorward heat flux due to TIWs in the eastern tropical Pacific during the seasons when TIWs are active. The atmospheric mixed layer just above the sea surface responds to the waves with enhanced or reduced vertical mixing. Furthermore, the changes in turbulent mixing feed back to sea surface evaporation, favoring the westward propagation of TIWs. The atmosphere to the south of the Equator also responds to TIWs in a similar way, although TIWs are much weaker south of the Equator.

Nolinear waves and their barotropic stability in the tropical ocean and atmosphere

In this paper, the nonlinear waves and their barotropic stability in the tropical ocean and atmosphere are studied with the qualitative theory of the ordinary differential equation. The relationship is derived between the stability of nonlinear waves with different frequencies and the basic currents and their horizontal shear in the tropical ocean and atmosphere.

Effects of surface waves and sea spray on air–sea fluxes during the passage of Typhoon Hagupit

Air–sea exchange plays a vital role in the development and maintenance of tropical cyclones（TCs）. Although studies have suggested the dependence of air–sea fluxes on surface waves and sea spray, how these processes modify those fluxes under TC conditions have not been sufficiently investigated based on in-situ observations.Using continuous meteorological and surface wave data from a moored buoy in the northern South China Sea,this study examines the effects of surface waves and sea spray on air–sea fluxes during the passage of Typhoon Hagupit. The mooring was within about 40 km of the center of Hagupit. Surface waves could increase momentum flux to the ocean by about 15%, and sea spray enhanced both sensible and latent heat fluxes to the atmosphere,causing Hagupit to absorb 500 W/m^2 more heat flux from the ocean. These results have powerful implications for understanding TC–ocean interaction and improving TC intensity forecasting.

Impact of Cyclone Nilam on Tropical Lower Atmospheric Dynamics

A deep depression formed over the Bay of Bengal on 28 October 2012, and developed into a cyclonic storm. After landfall near the south coast of Chennai, cyclone Nilam moved north-northwestwards. Coordinated experiments were conducted from the Indian stations of Gadanki（13.5？N, 79.2？E） and Hyderabad（17.4？N, 78.5？E） to study the modification of gravity-wave activity and turbulence by cyclone Nilam, using GPS radiosonde and mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere radar data. The horizontal velocities underwent large changes during the closest approach of the storm to the experimental sites. Hodograph analysis revealed that inertia gravity waves（IGWs） associated with the cyclone changed their directions from northeast（control time） to northwest following the path of the cyclone. The momentum flux of IGWs and short-period gravity waves（1–8 h） enhanced prior to, and during, the passage of the storm（±0.05 m2s-2and ±0.3 m2s-2, respectively）, compared to the flux after its passage. The corresponding body forces underwent similar changes, with values ranging between ±2–4m s-1d-1and ±12–15 m s-1d-1. The turbulence refractivity structure constant（C2n） showed large values below 10 km before the passage of the cyclone when humidity in the region was very high. Turbulence and humidity reduced during the passage of the storm when a turbulent layer at ～17 km became more intense. Turbulence in the lower troposphere and near the tropopause became weak after the passage of the cyclone.

Counteracting effects on ENSO induced by ocean chlorophyll interannual variability and tropical instability wave-scale perturbations in the tropical Pacific

Large perturbations in chlorophyll(Chl)are observed to coexist at interannual and tropical instability wave(TIW)scales in the tropical Pacific;at present,their combined effects on El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO)through ocean biologyinduced heating(OBH)feedbacks are not understood well.Here,a hybrid coupled model(HCM)for the atmosphere and ocean physics-biogeochemistry(AOPB)in the tropical Pacific is adopted to quantify how ENSO can be modulated by Chl perturbations at interannual and TIW scales,individually or collectively,respectively.The HCM-based sensitivity experiments demonstrate a counteracting effect on ENSO:the bio-climate feedback due to large-scale Chl interannual variability acts to damp ENSO through its impact on upper-ocean stratification and vertical mixing,whereas that due to TIW-scale Chl perturbations tends to amplify ENSO.Because ENSO simulations are sensitively dependent on the ways Chl effects are represented at these different scales,it is necessary to adequately take into account these related differential Chl effects in climate modeling.A bias source for ENSO simulations is illustrated that is related with the Chl effects in the tropical Pacific,adding in a new insight into interactions between the climate system and ocean ecosystem on different scales in the region.These results reveal a level of complexity of ENSO modulations resulting from Chl effects at interannual and TIW scales,which are associated with ocean biogeochemical processes and their interactions with physical processes in the tropical Pacific.

The relationship between the canonical ENSO and the phase transition of the Antarctic oscillation at the quasi-quadrennial timescale

A correlation analysis is performed to investigate the relationship between El Nino-Southern Oscillation （ENSO） and the Antarctic oscillation （AAO） at the quasi-quadrennial （QQ） timescale.It is found that the cold tongue index （CTI） and the AAO index （AAOI） are negatively correlated with about a 7-month lead-time,while they are positively correlated with about a 15-month lag-time.To further explore this relationship,complex empirical orthogonal function analysis is employed in the QQ sea level pressure （SLP） anomalies from 1951 to 2002.The results indicate that,during the ENSO cycle,there exists one kind of global tropical wave of wavenumber 1 （GTW1） propagating eastward.With the traveling of GTW1,the tropical SLP anomaly tends to intrude into the southern mid-latitudes.Accordingly,three strong signals travel synchronously along the circumSouth-Pacific path,and a relatively weak signal extends eastward and poleward over the South Ocean in the Atlantic-Indian Ocean sector.Following the propagation of these signals,the AAO phase tends to be reversed progressively.As a result,there exists an evident lead-lag correlation between CTI and AAOI.It can be concluded that ENSO plays a key role in the phase transition of AAO at the QQ timescale.It is also noticed that this regular relationship is only evident in the canonical ENSO events,for which sea surface temperature （SST） anomalies extend westward from the tropical eastern Pacific.On the other hand,the similar relationships are not found among those atypical ENSO events for which SST anomalies spread eastward from the central Pacific,such as the 1982-1983 ENSO event.

Intra-seasonal variability of the abyssal currents in COMRA's contract area in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

In this paper,the intra-seasonal variability of the abyssal currents in the China Ocean Mineral Resources Association(COMRA)polymetallic nodule contact area,located in the western part of the Clarion and Clipperton Fraction Zone in the tropical East Pacific,is investigated using direct observations from subsurface mooring instruments as well as sea-surface height data and reanalysis products.Mooring observations were conducted from September 13,2017 to August 15,2018 in the COMRA contact area(10°N,154°W).The results were as follows:(1)At depths below 200 m,the kinetic energy of intra-seasonal variability(20-100 d)accounts for more than 40%of the overall low-frequency variability,while the ratio reaches more than 50%below 2000 m.(2)At depths below 200 m,currents show a synchronous oscillation with a characteristic time scale of 30 d,lasting from October to the following January;the energy of the 30-d oscillation increases with depth until the layer of approximately 4616 m,and the maximum velocity is approximately 10 cm/s.(3)The 30-d oscillation of deep currents is correlated with the tropical instability waves in the upper ocean.

NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE TROPICAL AIR-SEA INTERACTION WAVES

By means of the numerical method,the tropical air-sea interaction waves are studied.The results show that when the Kelvin waves are filtered out and only the equatorial Rossby waves are reserved both in the atmosphere and in the ocean,the disturbances can also propagate eastward because of the air-sea interaction.The critical wavelength of the eastward propagating waves is related to the intensity of the air-sea interaction.The stronger the air-sea interaction,the larger the eastward propagating components of the air-sea interaction waves.The results of the numerical experiments are in good agreement with those of the theoretical analysis(Chao and Zhang,1988).

INSTABILITY OF THE OCEANIC WAVES IN THE TROPICAL REGION

In this paper, the effects of the large-scale mean sea temperature fields of the tropical ocean and the zonal current field (southern equatorial current) have been comprehensively entered in consideration on the basis of Chao and Ji (1985), and Ji and Chao (1986), the equatorial oceanic waves of the tropical ocean have been discussed by use of linearized primitive equations, then, the significant influence of the climatic back- ground fields of the tropical ocean upon the oceanic waves of this region has been further testified. When very cold water appears in the tropical region, and the southern equatorial current is also relatively strong, the effect of the Rossby wave weakens, as a consequence, there are substitutive slow waves (i.e. thermal waves) which travel in opposite direction (eastward) to the Rossby wave. The characteristics of the slow wave are similar to those of Rossby waves, only the travelling direction is opposite. Under a certain environ- mental background field, the slow wave and the modified Rossby wave may be instable. With this conclu- sion, the mechanism of the occurrence, development and propagation of El Nino events has been studied. It is pointed out that the opposite travelling direction of the thermal wave and Rossby wave will bring re- pectively into action under different marine environmental background fields. The physical causes for that the abnormal warm water inclines to occur along the South American coast have also been explored in this paper.

INTERACTION BETWEEN WAVES IN LOW-LATITUDE ATMOSPHERE AND TROPICAL LOW-FREQUENCY OSCILIATION

This paper is an attempt to reveal the dynamic mechanism of low-frequency oscillation (LFO) in tropical atmosphere. A two-level model on equatorial β-plane which includes the equation of water vapor evolution and the interaction between condensational latent heating due to convection and large-scale dynamic processes is devel- oped. The difference in both heating capacity and moisture evaporation between underlying land and ocean surfaces is also taken into consideration. Firstly, the eigenmode in this model is analysed to reveal the effect of convective heating on equatorial waves. It is found that with this heating, all the waves including Kelvin waves, Rossby waves, gravity waves and mixed Rossby-gravity waves, are slowed down, thus frequency differences between fast and slow waves are reduced. Therefore these waves are more likely to interact with each other, causing the perturbations to propagate eastward very slowly and producing LFO. The comparison between results of dry and moist model integration has confirmed the conclusion from dynamic analysis.

INFLUENCE OF THE BASIC FLOW IN THE TROPICS ON THE STATIONARY PLANETARY WAVES AT MIDDLE AND HIGH LATITUDES DURING THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTER

The relationship between the quasi-stationary planetary waves forced by topography and heat source during the Northern Hemisphere winter is investigated by means of a quasi-geostrophic,34-level,spherical coordinate model with the Rayleigh friction,the Newtonian cooling and the horizontal eddy thermal diffu- sion. The calculated results show that when the basic flow is the westerly in the tropical stratosphere,the amplitude of quasi-stationary planetary wave for zonal wavenumber 2 at middle and high latitudes is larger during the Northern Hemispheric winter;while when the basic flow is the easterly,it is smaller.This is in agreement with the observed results. The calculated results also show that influence of the basic flow in the tropical troposphere on the quasi- stationary planetary waves is larger than that of the basic flow in the tropical stratosphere on the quasi- stationary planetary waves.