Intraseasonal Air–Sea Interaction in the Tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans

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Abstract
The relationships between intraseasonal (periods <100 days) variations of convection, sea surface temperature (SST), surface wind stress, and surface fluxes of latent heat and radiation in the warm pool of the equatorial Indian and western Pacific Oceans are examined using 7 yr of gridded outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), SST, and surface stress and latent heat flux based on European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analyses. In the warm pool region enhanced evaporation, which results from enhanced surface westerlies, lags enhanced convection by ∼1 week. Intraseasonal SST fluctuations lag decreased evaporation by ∼1 week and decreased convection (which implies increased insolation) by ∼2 weeks, suggesting that anomalous latent heat flux and surface insolation drive SST changes on intraseasonal timescale. The relationship between anomalous SST, surface wind stress and surface fluxes of latent heat and shortwave radiation for the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), which dominates the intras... Abstract The relationships between intraseasonal (periods <100 days) variations of convection, sea surface temperature (SST), surface wind stress, and surface fluxes of latent heat and radiation in the warm pool of the equatorial Indian and western Pacific Oceans are examined using 7 yr of gridded outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), SST, and surface stress and latent heat flux based on European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analyses. In the warm pool region enhanced evaporation, which results from enhanced surface westerlies, lags enhanced convection by ∼1 week. Intraseasonal SST fluctuations lag decreased evaporation by ∼1 week and decreased convection (which implies increased insolation) by ∼2 weeks, suggesting that anomalous latent heat flux and surface insolation drive SST changes on intraseasonal timescale. The relationship between anomalous SST, surface wind stress and surface fluxes of latent heat and shortwave radiation for the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), which dominates the intras...