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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Affiliation: | (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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