Analysis of Convectively Coupled Kelvin Waves in the Indian Ocean MJO

Abstract

Abstract The active convective phase of the Madden–Julian oscillation (hereafter active MJO) comprises enhanced moist deep convection on its own temporal and spatial scales as well as increased variance in convection associated with higher-frequency modes. Synoptic-scale cloud superclusters apparently associated with convectively coupled Kelvin waves occur within the active convective envelopes of most MJO events. These convectively coupled Kelvin waves also occur during the suppressed convective phase of the MJO (hereafter suppressed MJO). This observational study presents an analysis of outgoing longwave radiation and reanalysis data to determine how these waves behave differently as they propagate through the active and suppressed MJO. Time indices of the MJO and Kelvin waves are derived for over the equatorial Indian Ocean. Dates of local extrema in these indices are used to composite data to discern how the waves and associated circulations behave on average; then, further composites are made based on subsets of this list of dates that are consistent with the two MJO phases. Results show that the MJO phase modulates the intensity of moist deep convection associated with the Kelvin waves, the evolution of the vertical structure of cloudiness linked to Kelvin waves, and patterns of upper-level outflow from convection coupled to Kelvin waves. Composites reveal that synoptic-scale circulations associated with the release of latent heat in convection coupled to Kelvin waves amplify and are left behind the waves in preferred geographical regions. The MJO modulates the amplitudes of these circulations and the locations where they get left behind the waves. Previous results have suggested a sharp distinction between the phase speeds of the MJO (4–8 m s−1) and of convectively coupled Kelvin waves (specifically 17 m s−1). In contrast, the present work suggests that convectively coupled Kelvin waves have a broad range of characteristic phase speeds, extending from 10 to 17 m s−1, depending on both the region of the world and the phase of the MJO through which they propagate.