Abstract
[1] The vertical distribution of radiative heating affects the moist static energy budget and potentially the maintenance and propagation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). This paper uses CloudSat data to examine the radiative heating climatology in the tropics and the vertical structure of its modulation by the MJO and convectively coupled Kelvin Waves (KWs). Composites of active regions of the MJO and KW both show positive radiative heating anomaly in the middle and lower troposphere and slightly negative radiative heating anomaly in upper troposphere. Such bottom-heavy profiles can help to strengthen the MJO while weaken the KWs. Another finding is that cloud condensate anomalies associated with the MJO are significantly more bottom-heavy than those of the KWs, while the radiative heating anomalies associated with the MJO are only very slightly more bottom-heavy.
Highlights
[2] the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) was first identified 40 years ago [Madden and Julian, 1971] and has long been recognized as an important phenomenon, it is still not well understood
[4] In addition to its column integral, the vertical distribution of radiative heating can be important because it affects the efficacy of the circulation that arises in response to this radiative heating in importing or exporting column MSE
[5] The goal of this paper is to constrain the vertical distributions of radiative heating anomalies associated with the MJO using radiative heating profiles from CloudSat, which are derived from its multiyear global reflectivity measurements from the 94 GHz Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) [Stephens et al, 2002]
Summary
[2] the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) was first identified 40 years ago [Madden and Julian, 1971] and has long been recognized as an important phenomenon, it is still not well understood. [4] In addition to its column integral, the vertical distribution of radiative heating can be important because it affects the efficacy of the circulation that arises in response to this radiative heating in importing or exporting column MSE. As briefly discussed by Kuang [2011] and confirmed by cloud‐resolving model simulations, if the radiative heating is concentrated in the lower troposphere, the divergent circulation that arises to balance this heating results in more import of column MSE and further enhancement of convection. If the radiative heating is concentrated in the upper troposphere, the divergent circulation that arises results in more export of column MSE. Majda, 2006; Kuang, 2008a, 2008b; Andersen and Kuang, 2008], how radiative heating is distributed vertically could still modify the characteristics of these waves
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