Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: It is generally believed that the Maritime Continent (MC) is rarely affected by tropical cyclones (TCs) due to its equatorial location. However, this study reveals that TCs in the tropical western North Pacific can significantly suppress rainfall over the MC and its surrounding seas, based on the composite analysis. This suppression effect of TCs exists across all phases of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). TCs greatly alleviate rainfall enhancement during the convective phases of the MJO and aggravate rainfall suppression during the suppressive phases. Particularly, TCs reduce the likelihood of extremely high rainfall in convective MJO phases from 9% to 5% and increase the likelihood of extremely low rainfall in suppressive MJO phases from 10% to 16%. The rainfall suppression is attributed to the lower-tropospheric southwesterly anomalies to the south of TCs, which result in moisture divergence over the MC. Additionally, the upper-tropospheric equatorward outflows of TCs also promote subsidence and suppress rainfall. This study introduces a new factor influencing the rainfall over the MC from a synoptic climatology perspective.
Authors: Xinyu Li, Riyu Lu, Guixing Chen, Ruidan Chen
Institutions: Hohai University, Ministry of Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai)
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,390
Awards: G5160038996, G6274644737, G8247659539
OpenAlex ID: W4403558372