Large-Scale Dynamical Fields Associated with Convectively Coupled Equatorial Waves

Abstract

Convectively coupled equatorial waves, as previously detected in studies of wavenumber-frequency spectra of tropical clouds, are studied in more detail. Composite dynamical structures of the waves are obtained using linear regression between selectively filtered satellite-observed outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data, and various fields from a global reanalysis dataset. The selective filtering of the OLR was designed to isolate the convective variations contributing to spectral peaks that lie along the equatorial wave dispersion curves for equivalent depths in the range of 12–50 m. The waves studied are the Kelvin, n = 1 equatorial Rossby (ER), mixed Rossby–gravity, n = 0 eastward inertio–gravity, n = 1 westward inertio–gravity (WIG), and n = 2 WIG waves. The horizontal structures of the dynamical fields associated with the waves are all generally consistent with those calculated from inviscid equatorial β-plane shallow water theory. In the vertical, there are statistically significant structures spanning the depth of the troposphere, and for all but the ER wave there are associated vertically propagating signals extending into the equatorial stratosphere as well. In zonal cross sections, the vertical structure of the temperature anomaly field appears, for all but the ER wave, as a “boomerang”-like shape, with the “elbow” of the boomerang occurring consistently at the 250-hPa level. The tilts of the boomerang imply upward phase propagation throughout most of the troposphere, and downward phase propagation above. The deep convection of the waves occurs in regions of anomalously cold temperatures in the lower troposphere, warm temperatures in the upper troposphere, and cold temperatures at the level of the tropopause. Such a vertical structure appears to indicate that waves of relatively short vertical wavelengths (Lz ∼ 10 km) are indeed important for the coupling of large-scale dynamics and convection. The deeper structure of the convectively coupled ER wave, on the other hand, is thought to be an indication of the effects of basic-state vertical shear. Finally, the scales of the waves in the equatorial lower stratosphere that are forced by the convectively coupled equatorial waves are quite consistent with those found in many previous studies.