A Filtered View of Fluctuating Cloud Patterns in the Tropical Pacific

Abstract

Patterns of fluctuating cloud amount in the tropical Pacific are decomposed into individual frequency bands and presented in longitude-time and latitude-time sections. The natural variability of propagating ?clusters? is identified by considering zonal deviation fields, While patterns closer to planetary scale are studied in the zonal means for this limited domain. Periods of both regular and irregular transient activity are made apparent as a function of location. Regimes of ?regular? activity are found to differ in direction of cloud propagation, horizontal scale, and waveform tilts.