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Two‐day disturbances in the equatorial western Pacific
Author(s) -
Haertel Patrick T.,
Johnson Richard H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49712454611
Subject(s) - troposphere , convection , climatology , zonal flow (plasma) , geology , atmospheric sciences , madden–julian oscillation , oscillation (cell signaling) , atmospheric convection , meteorology , physics , chemistry , biochemistry , plasma , quantum mechanics , tokamak
From November 1992 to February 1993, westward‐propagating disturbances with scales of 1000‐1500 km frequented the equatorial western Pacific. They propagated at about 16 m s −1 and thier passage was accompanied by a two‐day oscillation in high cloudiness. Their convection was most intense when the lower troposphere was cool and the level of free convection was relatively low. The disturbances propagated westward at about 18 m s −1 faster than the lower tropospheric flow. This rapid propagation may have been the result of a coupling between the disturbance's convection and the 20 m s −1 vertical mode. The signal of this mode was apparent in vertical profiles of temperature and wind and the most intense convection began when the mode dynamically cooled the lower troposphere, lowering the level of free convection.