Relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection during DYNAMO

The relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection on an intraseasonal time scale are examined with data taken during the Dynamics of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) field campaign. Specifically, column‐net, as well as vertical profiles of radiative heating rates, computed over Gan Island in the central Indian Ocean (IO) are used along with an objective analysis of large‐scale fields to examine three MJO events that occurred during the 3 month period (October to December 2011) over this region. Longwave (LW) and shortwave radiative heating rates exhibit tilted structures, reflecting radiative effects associated with the prevalence of shallow cumulus during the dry, suppressed MJO phase followed by increasing deep convection leading into the active phase. As the convection builds going into the MJO active phase, there are increasingly top‐heavy anomalous radiative heating rates while the column‐net radiative cooling rate progressively decreases. Temporal fluctuations in the cloud radiative forcing, being quite sensitive to changes in high cloudiness, are dominated by LW effects with an intraseasonal variation of ~0.4–0.6 K/d. While both the water vapor and cloud fields are inextricably linked, it appears that the tilted radiative structures are more related to water vapor effects. The intraseasonal variation of column‐net radiative heating enhances the convective signal in the mean by ~20% with a minimum in this enhancement ~10 days prior to peak MJO rainfall and maximum ~7 days after. This suggests that as MJO convective envelope weakens over the central IO, cloud‐radiative feedbacks help maintain the mature MJO as it moves eastward.