Submonthly Convective Variability over South America and the South Atlantic Convergence Zone

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Abstract
Relationships between deep convection over South America and the atmospheric circulation are examined, with emphasis on submonthly variations of the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ) during austral summer. Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is used as a proxy for convection, while the associated circulation patterns are depicted by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis. Over South America and the adjacent oceans, OLR fluctuations with periods less than 90 days show maximum variance in the SACZ and over central South America during December–February. There is a local minimum in variance over the southern Amazon Basin, where mean convection is at a maximum. OLR spectra display several statistically relevant peaks corresponding to periods of less than 30 days over tropical South America, with the relative proportion of higher-frequency power increasing as the base grid point is moved to the southeast within the SACZ. Correlations between submonthly (2–30-day) OLR in the vi... Abstract Relationships between deep convection over South America and the atmospheric circulation are examined, with emphasis on submonthly variations of the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ) during austral summer. Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is used as a proxy for convection, while the associated circulation patterns are depicted by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis. Over South America and the adjacent oceans, OLR fluctuations with periods less than 90 days show maximum variance in the SACZ and over central South America during December–February. There is a local minimum in variance over the southern Amazon Basin, where mean convection is at a maximum. OLR spectra display several statistically relevant peaks corresponding to periods of less than 30 days over tropical South America, with the relative proportion of higher-frequency power increasing as the base grid point is moved to the southeast within the SACZ. Correlations between submonthly (2–30-day) OLR in the vi...

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