Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publication Date
4 October 2021

The Madden-Julian Oscillation in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model Version 1

Authors

Author

<p>The present study examines the characteristics of the MJO events represented in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 1 (E3SMv1), DOE&rsquo;s new Earth system model. The coupled E3SMv1 realistically simulates the eastward propagation of precipitation and Moist Static Energy (MSE) anomalies associated with the MJO. As in observation, horizontal moisture advection and longwave radiative feedback are found to be the dominant processes in E3SMv1 that lead to the eastward movement and maintenance of the MSE anomalies, respectively. Modulation of the diurnal cycle of precipitation in the Maritime Continent region by the MJO is also well represented in the model despite systematic biases in the magnitude and phase of the diurnal cycle. On the midlatitude impact of the MJO, E3SMv1 reasonably captures the pattern of the MJO teleconnection across the North Pacific and North America, with improvement in the performance in a high-resolution version, despite the magnitude being a bit weaker than the observed feature. About interannual variability of the MJO, the El Ni&amp;ntilde;o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) modulation of the zonal extent of MJO&rsquo;s eastward propagation, as well as associated changes in the mean state moisture gradient in the tropical west Pacific, is well reproduced in the model. However, MJO in E3SMv1 exhibits no sensitivity to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), with the MJO propagation characteristics being almost identical between easterly QBO and westerly QBO years. Processes that have been suggested as critical to MJO simulation are also examined by utilizing recently developed process-oriented diagnostics.&nbsp;</p>

Kim, Daehyun, Min-Seop Ahn, Charlotte Demott, Chia-Wei Hsu, Changhyun Yoo, L. Ruby Leung, Samson Hagos, and Philip J. Rasch. 2021. “The Madden-Julian Oscillation In The Energy Exascale Earth System Model Version 1”. Earth And Space Science Open Archive, 41. https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10508085.1.
Funding Program Area(s)