Fast and slow Kelvin waves in the Madden‐Julian oscillation of a GCM

Abstract

AbstractThe structure of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) in an 1800‐day integration of the Hadley Centre Unified Model was analysed, and interpreted within a Kelvin‐wave framework. the model was forced with constant equinoctial (March) boundary conditions so that a ‘clean’ MJO signal could be separated from the effects of the seasonal cycle and forced interannual variability. the simulated MJO was fairly realistic in terms of its large‐scale spatial structure and propagation characteristics, although its period of 30 days (corresponding to an average phase speed of 15 m s−1) was shorter than that observed. the signal in deep convection was less coherent than in observations, and appeared to move eastwards as a sequence of discrete convective anomalies, rather than by a smooth eastward propagation. Both ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ equatorial Kelvin waves appeared to play an important role in the eastward propagation of the simulated MJO. Enhanced convection over the Indian Ocean was associated with a ‘fast’ equatorial Kelvin wave that propagated eastwards at 55 m s−1 over the Pacific. On reaching the west coast of South America, a component of this Kelvin wave propagated northwards and southwards as a trapped wave along the mountain ranges of Central America and the Andes, in agreement with observations. the anomalous surface easterlies over the tropical eastern Pacific associated with this fast Kelvin wave enhanced the climatological mean easterlies and led to positive convective anomalies over the eastern Pacific consistent with the wind‐induced surface heat exchange (WISHE) mechanism. However, WISHE was not able to account for the eastward development of the convective anomalies over the Indian Ocean/western Pacific region. By splitting the equatorial divergence anomalies of the simulated MJO into their ϱu/ϱx and ϱv/ϱy components, the role of Kelvin‐wave dynamics in the ‘slow’ (15 m s−1) average eastward propagation of the simulated MJO was examined. Although the two components were of comparable magnitude, the ϱu/ϱx component exhibited a pronounced eastward propagation which tended to be disrupted by the ϱv/ϱy component, thus supporting the paradigm of an underlying, but strongly modified, Kelvin‐wave mechanism.