Vertical structure and physical processes of the Madden‐Julian oscillation: Linking hindcast fidelity to simulated diabatic heating and moistening
Abstract
Many theories for the Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO) focus on diabatic processes, particularly the evolution of vertical heating and moistening. Poor MJO performance in weather and climate models is often blamed on biases in these processes and their interactions with the large‐scale circulation. We introduce one of the three components of a model evaluation project, which aims to connect MJO fidelity in models to their representations of several physical processes, focusing on diabatic heating and moistening. This component consists of 20 day hindcasts, initialized daily during two MJO events in winter 2009–2010. The 13 models exhibit a range of skill: several have accurate forecasts to 20 days lead, while others perform similarly to statistical models (8–11 days). Models that maintain the observed MJO amplitude accurately predict propagation, but not vice versa. We find no link between hindcast fidelity and the precipitation‐moisture relationship, in contrast to other recent studies. There is also no relationship between models' performance and the evolution of their diabatic heating profiles with rain rate. A more robust association emerges between models' fidelity and net moistening: the highest‐skill models show a clear transition from low‐level moistening for light rainfall to midlevel moistening at moderate rainfall and upper level moistening for heavy rainfall. The midlevel moistening, arising from both dynamics and physics, may be most important. Accurately representing many processes may be necessary but not sufficient for capturing the MJO, which suggests that models fail to predict the MJO for a broad range of reasons and limits the possibility of finding a panacea.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 26, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1002/2014jd022374
Entities
People
- Ann Shelly
- Brian Mapes
- Cecile Hannay
- Daehyun Kim
- Duane Waliser
- Eiki Shindo
- Fréderic Vitart
- Guang J. Zhang
- Hailan Wang
- Hsi‐yen Ma
- James A. Ridout
- Jon Petch
- Mihaela Caian
- Mike Pritchard
- Nicholas Klingaman
- Nicholas R. Cavanaugh
- Prince K. Xavier
- Romain Roehrig
- Steven J. Woolnough
- Tomoki Miyakawa
- William J. Merryfield
- Xianan Jiang
Organizations
- California Institute of Technology
- European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
- Japan Meteorological Agency
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Korea Meteorological Administration
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Center for Atmospheric Research
- National Centre for Atmospheric Science
- National Science Foundation
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Office of Naval Research
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
- United States Naval Research Laboratory
- University of Miami
- University of Reading
- University of Tokyo
- University of Washington