Relationships between Rain Characteristics and Environment. Part II: Atmospheric Disturbances Associated with Shallow Convection over the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Abstract

ynoptic-scale westward-propagating disturbances over the eastern Pacific (EP) are analyzed in boreal autumn, utilizing spectral analysis, composite analysis, and energy budget analysis. The results are compared with those over the western Pacific (WP).Spectral peaks of total precipitable water (TPW) and vertical velocity at 850 hPa (?850), and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) are detected at periods of ~3?7 days over the EP. Meanwhile over the WP, a spectral peak of OLR is pronounced, but peaks of TPW and ?850 are not detected. Composite analysis reveals that disturbances that have a coupled structure, with a vortex at its center near ~9°N and a mixed Rossby?gravity (MRG) wave?type disturbance, frequently exist over the EP. At the same time, the disturbances have a double-deck structure associated with divergence both in the upper and in the middle to lower troposphere. These disturbances are associated with both deep convection and congestus, which generate kinetic energy of the disturbance in the upper and in the lower troposphere, respectively.Examining diabatic heating in relation to the coupled disturbances, deep heating with the peak at the height of ~7.5 km is greatest in the northeastern part of the vortex. The coupled MRG wave?type disturbance provides a relatively deep cross-equatorial southerly flow into the northeastern part of the vortex. It is suggested that deep rain is maintained with the existence of deep convergence produced by the coupled disturbances over the EP, where a very shallow convergence field exists on average.