Global response to tropical diabatic heating variability in boreal winter

Global teleconnections associated with tropical convective activities were investigated, based on monthly data of 29 Northern Hemisphere winters: December, January, February, and March (DJFM). First, EOF analyses were performed on the outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) data to characterize the convective activity variability in the tropical Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. The first EOF mode of the convective activity was highly correlated with the ENSO. The second EOF mode had an east--west dipole structure, and the third EOF mode had three convective activity centers. Two distinct teleconnection patterns were identified that were associated, respectively, with the second and third EOF modes. A global primitive equation model was used to investigate the physical mechanism that causes the global circulation anomalies. The model responses to anomalous tropical thermal forcings that mimic the EOF patterns matched the general features of the observed circulation anomalies well, and they were mainly controlled by linear processes. The importance of convective activities in the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific to the extended- and long-range forecasting capability in the extratropics is discussed.