Regional Modulation of Tropical Deep Convection by the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to investigate the influence of stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) on regional convection and precipitation in the tropics, including hurricane genesis. The PI and his collaborators will analyze various data sets (Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Highly Reflective Cloud, and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) reanalysis data sets) to document the QBO impact on tropical upper-tropospheric wind, temperature, and radiation fields. The impacts will be determined using several techniques, including straightforward compositing of fields during the easterly and westerly QBO phases. Since QBO is a fairly regular low-frequency oscillation, its impact on tropopause environment is potentially predictable. Dr. Hitchman argues that the QBO impacts are also significant, and that the project will advance long-range forecasting of tropical climate. The Large-scale Dynamic Meteorology and Climate Dynamics programs are co-funding this award.