Low frequency and quasi‐biennial oscillations in the Malaysian precipitation anomaly

Abstract

AbstractThe spatial and temporal variability of the precipitation anomaly in Malaysia in the quasi‐biennial (1.5–2.5 years) and the low‐frequency (3–7 years) bands were investigated. The oscillations in both bands contributed a significant proportion of the variance in the precipitation anomaly. The most dominant modes for both bands had large impacts on the stations in Sabah, Sarawak and on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula. These dominant modes had a similar manifestation, i.e. the stations experienced enhanced rainfall during periods of large negative anomaly of sea surface temperature (SST) in the central‐eastern Pacific Ocean and suppressed rainfall during periods of large positive SST anomaly. Hence, these areas may face severe drought during an El Niño event and flood during La Niña. Both bands appeared to have large‐scale coherence with SST, sea level pressure and zonal wind over the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans and South China Sea. However, the two signals differed with respect to timing and propagation. Copyright © 2001 Royal Meteorological Society