Intraseasonal Variability in a Dry Atmospheric Model

Abstract

A long integration of a primitive equation dry atmospheric model with time-independent forcing under boreal winter conditions is analyzed. A variety of techniques such as time filtering, space–time spectral analysis, and lag regressions are used to identify tropical waves. It is evident that oscillations with intraseasonal time scales and a Kelvin wave structure exist in the model tropical atmosphere. Coherent eastward propagations in the 250-hPa velocity potential and zonal wind are found, with a speed of about 15 m s−1. The oscillation is stronger in the Eastern Hemisphere than in the Western Hemisphere. Interactions between the tropical and extratropical flows are found to be responsible for the simulated intraseasonal variability. Wave activity flux analysis reveals that a tropical influence occurs in the North Pacific region where a northeastward wave activity flux is found associated with the tropical divergent flow in the western and central Pacific. In the North Atlantic sector, on the other hand, a strong extratropical influence is observed with a southward wave activity flux into the Tropics. The extratropical low-frequency variability develops by extracting kinetic energy from the basic mean flow and through interactions with synoptic-scale transient eddies. Linear experiments show that the tropical atmospheric response to the extratropical forcing in the North Atlantic leads to an eastward-propagating wave in the tropical easterly mean flow of the Eastern Hemisphere.