Low-frequency time-space regimes in tropical convection

Summary The multi-scale time-space regimes of the low-frequency convective activity over the maritime continent and tropical western Pacific are investigated using the monthly infrared radiance black body temperature (IRTBB) over a latitude band of 5S–9S, 80E–160W for the time period of 1980–1993. The complex Morlet wavelet transform and the complex empirical orthogonal function (CEOF) analysis are used. The zonal mean of the monthly IRTBB is dominated by the annual cycle which is influenced by a monsoon regime. An interannual signal around the time scale of 4.8-year and a decadal signal are obvious. In the zonal deviation, each CEOF represents a particular spatial regime; its corresponding principal component exhibits different multi-scale temporal behavior. The first leading component represents the variability due to large scale land-ocean distribution (the maritime continent, the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific) related to monsoon, with a dominant annual time scale. The second leading component represents the fluctuation of Walker circulation, associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events having a main time scale around 4.8-year and the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) around 2.4-year. The third leading component represents the variability due to small-scale land-ocean distribution (Java, New Guinea and the surrounding seas), with a dominant annual time scale. The main time scales in all the components seem to be modulated by longer time scales in either amplitude or frequency or both.Different time scales, as well as their in-phase interference, may play different roles in developing an individual ENSO event. The 1982/1983 event is dominated by an enhanced QBO. The 1986/1987 event is dominated by an enhanced 4.8-year oscillation. The 1991 and 1993 events may have resulted from an in-phase interference among several interannual time scales, abnormal annual cycles, and also highfrequency variability.SAIC/General Sciences Corporation.With 6 Figures