Oceanic Feedback to the Madden-Julian Oscillation: Mixing’s Critical Role

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) in the Indian Ocean is a large-scale, propagating atmospheric disturbance in the equatorial latitude band characterized by reduced outgoing longwave radiation due to deep atmospheric convection, and at the surface by intense westerly wind bursts and a change in sign of the net surface heat flux. The ocean response is the formation of a near-surface Yoshida-Wyrtki Jet, which accelerates almost in balance with the surface wind stress. High shear at the Jet’s base drives intense turbulence, both of which continue long after the atmospheric disturbance has passed (Moum et al., 2014). The sequence of MJOs observed in the 2011-2012 DYNAMO experiment suggested the possibility that the greater mixing due to more intense MJO wind bursts might reduce SST recovery rates following MJO passage, thus reducing upper ocean heat content available to drive future atmospheric convection. We have tested this with a statistical analysis of less-complete historical observations of MJOs documenting 50 previous events. Our analysis shows that

1) SST increases more rapidly following weak MJOs than strong MJOs,

and within a 60-day window,

2) weak MJOs follow strong MJOs (and do not follow weak MJOs),

3) strong MJOs follow weak MJOs (and do not follow strong MJOs).

We hypothesize that these results are the consequence of Jet-forced variations in subsurface mixing on SST recovery rates, thereby providing direct feedback to subsequent MJOs.

Moum, J.N., S.P. de Szoeke, W.D. Smyth, J.B. Edson, H.L. DeWitt, A.J. Moulin, E.J. Thompson, C.J. Zappa, S.A. Rutledge, R.H. Johnson and C.W. Fairall, 2014. Air-sea interactions from westerly wind bursts during the November 2011 MJO in the Indian Ocean. Bull.Am.Met.Soc., 95, 1185-1199.