The Maritime Continent as a Prediction Barrier for the MJO Augustin Vintzileos EMC/NCEP SAIC
Points to take back home. Forecast of the MJO is at, average, skillful for lead times of up to circa 2 weeks. However, forecast skill strongly depends on the phase of the MJO. When the actively convective phase of the MJO is in the Indian Ocean, the forecast skill becomes a function of target time rather than lead time. The forecast skill drops sharply as the enhanced convection approaches the Maritime Continent. This appears to be a model independent result. Understanding the physics behind this Barrier will allow for a significant improvement of MJO prediction.
Points to take back home. There is empirical evidence that the ocean is an important player for the evolution of the MJO. Currently, ocean models are not assimilating and simulating realistically intraseasonal modes. Improving the ocean models in this respect would allow for better MJO forecasts
Forecasting the MJO with the CFS: Defining a metric for the MJO We use a simplified version of the Wheeler and Hendon Index: Verifying fields are from Reanalysis 2 Use the zonal wind at 200 hpa from 2002 to 2006 averaged between 20 S 20 N Compute and remove the mean annual cycle and the zonal mean Perform and EOF analysis of the resulting field (no time filtering)
First and second EOFs of the zonal wind at 200 hpa averaged between 20 S 20 N Indian Pacific Atlantic 10 days EOF1 EOF2 EOF1 EOF2 r=0.6 A full oscillation in 40 days
Reconstructed U200 vs. GPCP Precipitation, May July, 2002 8 07/28 Obs.2002 U200 MJO Reconstruction 07/28 GPCP Daily Precip. 05 07 2002 07/21 4 0 07/21 40 07/14 07/07 4 07/14 35 6 07/07 06/30 2 4 06/30 30 Time (days) 06/23 06/16 06/09 6 4 2 06/23 06/16 06/09 25 20 06/02 6 06/02 15 Upper level diverg ence 05/26 05/19 05/12 05/05 8 2 0 100 200 300 4 Longitude 2 2 05/26 05/19 05/12 05/05 0 100 200 300 Longitude 10 5 0 20S-20N averaged, filtered U200 anomaly field 5S-5N averaged, total unfiltered precipitation field
Forecasting the MJO with the CFS: The Maritime Continent Prediction Barrier Pattern Correlation as a function of initialization day and lead time for some initial experiments with the CFS
Forecast Skill as a function of initialization day and lead time for: May June 2002 Forecast lead time (days) Forecast lead time (days) 50 40 30 20 10 50 40 30 20 10 0.2 0.9 0.7 0.9 0.7 0.9 CFS126: Pattern Correlation for Persistence Forecast 0.4 0.8 0.3 0.8 0.2 0.8 0.2 0.1 05/19 05/26 06/02 06/09 06/16 06/23 06/30 CFS126: Pattern Correlation for EOF filtered U200 0.9 0.7 0.4 0.9 0.9 Initialization dates May June 2002 0.9 0.6 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.4 05/19 05/26 06/02 06/09 06/16 06/23 06/30 Initialization dates May June 2002 0.9 0.2 0.8 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.9 June 6 th 9 th June 6 th 9 th June 6 th 9 th
Reconstructed U200 vs. GPCP Precipitation, May July, 2002 8 07/28 Obs.2002 U200 MJO Reconstruction 07/28 GPCP Daily Precip. 05 07 2002 07/21 4 0 07/21 40 07/14 07/07 4 07/14 35 6 07/07 06/30 2 4 06/30 30 June 8 th Time (days) 06/23 06/16 06/09 6 4 2 06/23 06/16 06/09 25 20 06/02 6 06/02 15 Upper level diverg ence 05/26 05/19 05/12 05/05 8 2 0 100 200 300 4 Longitude 2 2 05/26 05/19 05/12 05/05 0 100 200 300 Longitude 10 5 0 20S-20N averaged, filtered U200 anomaly field 5S-5N averaged, total unfiltered precipitation field
CFS forecasts: Horizontal resolution and atmospheric I.C.: Experiments conducted under NOAA s Climate Test Bed Reforecasts: May 23 rd to August 11 th from 2002 to 2006, 1 forecast every 5 days Forecast lead: 60 days Model resolution: Atmosphere: T62 = 200Km x 200Km T126 = 100Km x 100Km T254 = 50Km x 50Km Ocean: the standard CFS resolution Initial conditions: Atmosphere, Land: from Reanalysis 2 (CDAS2) and from GDAS Ocean: from GODAS 28
Operational GDAS versus Reanalysis 2 initial conditions: June 2002 06/29 06/27 06/25 06/23 06/21 06/19 06/17 06/15 06/13 06/11 06/09 06/07 06/05 06/03 Daily GPCP Precip (mm/day) 5S 5N 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 GDAS Precipitable Water 06/01 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Longitude GPCP Precipitation 0 Reanalysis 2 Precipitable Water 7000 Mean Power for waves 10 40 6000 5000 from R2 from GDAS drift Time evolution of mean energy at wave numbers 10 40 when CFS is initialized by R 2 (red) or by GDAS (blue). 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Forecast lead time 29
Pattern correlation as a function of initialization day and lead time The CFS has better skill than persistence during the propagation of the dry phase of the MJO through the Maritime Continent. However, during the transition of the wet phase of the MJO through the Maritime Continent the CFS is not better than persistence Lead time (days) Lead time (days) 60 50 40 30 20 10 60 50 40 30 20 10 Pattern Correlation for Pers. Frcst Jun02 Jul02 Aug02 June 8 th Initialization day Pattern Correlation for GDAS Frcst 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1 0.5 0 0.5 Jun02 Jul02 Aug02 Initialization day June 8 th 31 1
Correlation 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Skill for the MJO mode (verification CDAS2) Persistence forecast Pattern Correlation for the projected mode GDAS Skill up to 14 18 days 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Lead time (days) Reanalysis 2 m/sec 3 2.5 2 1.5 Persistence forecast RMS Error for the projected mode GDAS 1 0.5 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Lead time (days) T62 T126 T254 30
The Maritime Continent Barrier in Real Time Forecasts
A real time GEFS forecast example of the barrier (graphs courtesy Jon Gottschalck CPC) Observed MJO event of March 2008 is crossing the Maritime Continent Based on the Wheeler and Hendon (2004) index Forecast MJO collapses immediately after initialization before crossing the Maritime Continent 27
Most current MJO event as viewed through the perspective of the CLIVAR index (Wheeler and Hendon) Graphics Courtesy CPC
Summary.. The most important phenomenon hampering forecast skill of the MJO is the Maritime Continent Prediction Barrier. Good sets of atmospheric and oceanic initial conditions are important for improving MJO forecast skill but not for breaking trough the prediction barrier. We need to improve physical parameterizations. Horizontal resolution is not as essential for MJO forecast but it could be for forecasting the impacts of the MJO to the extra tropics.
The importance of the Ocean
First two eigenvectors of the daily observed SST correlation matrix (10% and 7% of total intraseasonal variance) These two modes project to the simplified MJO index
Standard Deviation of the 20 90 day filtered SST 2002 2006 As expected GODAS generally presents weaker intra seasonal variability than observations 2002 2006 Intraseasonal variability increases in free runs with the coupled CFS 33