Program  
 
The Ocean and Atmosphere in the Maritime Continent and Their Impacts
 

 
 
1530
Possible Role of the Diurnal Cycle of Land Convection in the Barrier Effect on the MJO by the Maritime Continent
Tuesday 8th @ 1530-1550, Conference Room 4
Jian Ling* , Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Chidong Zhang, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Presenter Email: lingjian@lasg.iap.ac.cn
Possible effects of the diurnal cycle in convection on the eastward propagation of MJO over the Indo-Pacific Maritime Continent (MC) during boreal winter were investigated using high-resolution precipitation data. Individual MJO events were identified using a precipitation-tracking method and classified into two groups: those propagating across the MC (MJO-C) and those blocked by the MC (MJO-B). Before an MJO convection center moves into the MC, rain is more over land in the MC for MJO-C than MJO-B and most rain over land comes from diurnal convection. Once the MJO convection center enters the MC, the diurnal cycle over land is significantly weaker for MJO-C than MJO-B, possibly because higher surface soil moisture due to vanguard precipitation tends to suppress diurnal convection over land. This result provides observational evidence that fill a gap in a hypothesized chain of actions in which the diurnal cycle of land convection plays an active role in the barrier effect on the eastward propagation of MJO over the MC. Remaining gaps in this hypothesis are discussed.
 
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