Response of tropical convection over the western Pacific to stratospheric polar vortex during boreal winter

Abstract

AbstractIt has been extensively discussed that stratospheric polar vortex significantly contribute to the variability and predictability of tropospheric weather and climate over midlatitudes and polar regions. However, we currently have little understanding of the exact influence of stratospheric polar vortex on tropical troposphere. Here, the exact responses of tropical convection to Northern Hemisphere (NH) extreme stratospheric polar vortex events (i.e., strong vortex [SV] events and weak vortex [WV] events) are investigated in this study. We find that the western Pacific region is particularly noteworthy when focusing on the spatial distribution of tropical convective activity. Significant enhancement of convective activity over the western Pacific is clearly observed in about 2 weeks after WV events, while opposite responses to SV events can also be expected. The change in convective activity over the western Pacific is considerably contributed by the intraseasonal variability, and thus MJO phase 7 (3) is dominant after WV (SV) events. The seesaw pattern of zonal‐mean convective activity near equator may be a property of MJO itself, not definitely caused by the stratospheric polar vortex as previously thought. A significantly linear correlation between anomalous convective activity and static stability near tropopause over the western Pacific is found, suggesting that circumstances in the tropical upper troposphere play a crucial role in the evolution of tropical convection, especially for the MJO.