Tropical-Midlatitude Interaction on the Time Scale of 30 to 60 Days during the Northern Summer of 1979

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between the low-frequency oscillation of convective activity in the tropics and the intensity of planetary-scale upper-tropospheric (200 mb) systems in the subtropics during the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer is studied using data obtained in the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE). The mid-Pacific trough and the South Asian (Tibetan) and Mexican anticyclones undergo cycles of amplification and decay with the 30–60 day fluctuation of convective activities in the Indonesia-western Pacific (IWP) region and in the intertropical covergence zone (ITCZ) over Central America. The thermal contrast between the Asian continent and the North Pacific and the resulting east-west circulation show similar time variations. This circulation regulates the intensity of the South Asian anticyclone and the mid-Pacific trough. Divergent circulation associated with convection over Central America maintains the Mexican anticyclone. The low-frequency transients in the upper troposphere around the mid-Pa...