Oscillations of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the genesis of easterly waves Part II: numerical verification |
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| Authors: | Violeta E Toma Peter John Webster |
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| Institution: | (1) Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Atlanta, USA |
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| Abstract: | A companion paper (Part I: Toma and Webster 2008), argued that the characteristics of the mean Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) arise from instabilities associated with
the strong cross-equatorial pressure gradient (CEPG) that exists in the eastern Pacific Ocean as a result of the latitudinal
sea-surface temperature (SST) gradient. Furthermore, it was argued that instabilities of the mean ITCZ resulted in the in
situ development of easterly waves. Thus, in Part I, it was hypothesized that the mean and transient state of eastern Pacific
convection was due to local processes and less so to the advection of waves from the North Atlantic Ocean. To test this hypothesis
and, at the same time, consider others such as a possible role of the equatorial and subtropical orography in generating local
instabilities, a series of controlled numerical experiments are designed using the WRF regional model. The domain of the model
was configured to include the western Atlantic Ocean, the Isthmus of Panama and the eastern Pacific Ocean to 155°W. Lateral
boundaries were set at 40°N and 40°S, thus containing the mountains of Central America, the Andes and the Sierra Madre of
Mexico. In a series of experiments, analysis products were used as boundary conditions that were successively updated four
times per day, set as 10-day running average fields or as running mean monthly fields. Finally, the model was run with topography
essentially eliminated over the land areas. Although there are differences between the details of the resultant fields, the
location of mean convection and the form of the transients remain the same. It is concluded, in support of the theoretical
and diagnostic studies of Part I that orographic forcing or waves generated in the North Atlantic Ocean are not the major
causes of the mean and transient nature of disturbances in the eastern Pacific. |
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