Convective multi-scale interactions over the Maritime Continent during the propagation of the MJO

Abstract

There are strong convective variations over the land and ocean regions of the MC. These land/ocean differences lead to strong diurnal variability in wind, clouds, and precipitation that also vary during the propagation of the MJO. Figure 1 (left panel) shows that the MC islands show a strong evening maximum with offshore propagation in the early morning. Figure 1 (right panel) shows that the diurnal cycle over land decreases sharply once the MJO begins traversing the MC (i.e., after phase 3), whereas the diurnal cycle over ocean shows less variation during the MJO propagation. The hypothesis of this work is that the diurnal cycle over land disrupts the convective evolution in the MJO envelope and that the MJO has to overcome this strong diurnal signal to make it through the MC unscathed.