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Abstract Observations have shown that tropical convection is influenced by fluctuations in temperature and moisture in the lower free troposphere (LFT; 600–850 hPa), as well as moist enthalpy (ME) fluctuations beneath the 850 hPa level, referred to as the deep boundary layer (DBL; 850–1000 hPa). A framework is developed that consolidates these three quantities within the context of the buoyancy of an entraining plume. A “plume buoyancy equation” is derived based on a relaxed version of the weak temperature gradient (WTG) approximation. Analysis of this equation using quantities derived from the Dynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) sounding array data reveals that processes occurring within the DBL and the LFT contribute nearly equally to the evolution of plume buoyancy, indicating that processes that occur in both layers are critical to the evolution of tropical convection. Adiabatic motions play an important role in the evolution of buoyancy both at the daily and longer time scales and are comparable in magnitude to horizontal moisture advection and vertical moist static energy advection by convection. The plume buoyancy equation may explain convective coupling at short time scales in both temperature and moisture fluctuations and can be used to complement the commonly used moist static energy budget, which emphasizes the slower evolution of the convective envelope in tropical motion systems.
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This content will become publicly available on September 1, 2026
Plume Model Assessment of the Convective Coupling of Equatorial Waves
Abstract A plume model applied to radiosonde observations and the fifth generation ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis (ERA5) is used to assess the relative importance of lower-tropospheric moisture and temperature variability in the convective coupling of equatorial waves. Regression and wavenumber–frequency coherence analyses of satellite precipitation, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and plume model estimates of lower-tropospheric vertically integrated buoyancy (〈B〉) are used to identify the spatial and temporal scales where these variables are highly correlated. Precipitation and OLR show little coherence with 〈B〉 when zero entrainment is prescribed in the plume model. In contrast, precipitation and OLR vary coherently with 〈B〉 when “deep inflow” entrainment is prescribed, highlighting that entrainment occurring over a deep layer of the lower troposphere plays an important role in modifying the thermodynamic properties of convective plumes in the tropics. Consistent with previous studies, moisture variability is found to play a more dominant role than temperature variability in the convective coupling of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) and equatorial Rossby (ER) waves, while temperature variability is found to play an important role in the convective coupling of Kelvin (KW) and inertio-gravity (IG) waves. Convective coupling is most strongly impacted by moisture variations in the 925–850- and 825–600-hPa layers for the MJO and ERs, and by 825–600-hPa temperature variations in KWs and IGs, with 1000–950-hPa moist static energy variations playing a relatively small role in convective coupling. Simulations of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), version 2, and a preoperational prototype of NOAA Global Forecast System (GFS) V17 are examined, the former showing unrealistically high coherence between precipitation and 1000-hPa moist static energy, the latter a more realistic relationship.
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- PAR ID:
- 10631977
- Publisher / Repository:
- Journal of Atmospheric Sciences
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Volume:
- 82
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 0022-4928
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1799 to 1814
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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