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We investigated ocean variability at intermediate depths (300–750 m) in the western equatorial Pacific (WEP) using data from underwater sensors of the Triangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network (TRITON) buoys. The data were specially processed because high accuracy is necessary for such an application, and we confirmed that sufficient accuracy was achieved. Variability of the temperature and salinity was large in the western boundary regions of the WEP. Seasonal variability is generally dominant at intermediate depths in the WEP; however, intraseasonal variability with period of 30–80 days is not negligible, particularly at 2°N, 138°E, where the New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent retroflects to the east as the Equatorial Undercurrent and/or Northern Subsurface Countercurrent. High correlation is seen between 12-month running means of the Niño 3.4 index anomaly and temperature at 300 and 750 dbar. In other words, the influence of El Niño/Southern Oscillation phenomena reaches to at least a depth of 750 dbar. We found a decreasing trend in salinity at intermediate depths in the WEP: − 0.0032 Practical Salinity Unit (PSU) year−1 at 300 dbar and − 0.00053 PSU year−1 at 750 dbar. This trend is likely associated with the freshening of the North Pacific Intermediate Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land-sea surface temperature contrast on the western coast of Sumatra Island was examined using observation data obtained from the pre-Years of the Maritime Continent (YMC) field campaign from November to December 2015. Surface observations showed that, on most days, strong daytime solar radiation caused a pronounced diurnal cycle in surface air temperatures on the island, even during the local active phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). Sudden drops in surface air temperature occurred frequently on the island in the late afternoon and over the sea at nighttime, accompanied by precipitation. Temperatures on the island were higher than those over the sea during the daytime and lower in the night and early morning. Prior to the local active phase of the MJO, dual maxima in the land-sea surface air temperature contrast occurred in the evening and early morning. During the local active phase of the MJO, in spite of cloudy conditions, there were still large land-sea temperature contrasts during the daytime and in the early morning. In addition to the nighttime radiative cooling of the land surface, decreases in air temperature over the land due to precipitation cooling and the lower solar insolation in the MJO active phase caused the larger temperature differences in the morning. These results suggest that the decrease in air temperature caused by precipitation cooling had a substantial effect on the land-sea surface air temperature contrast on the western coast of Sumatra Island, particularly during an active phase of the MJO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sea surface height data from 1992 through 2012 in the Eastern Indian Ocean, the 6 sets of hydrographic data sparsely spanning 1990-2001 in water south of Java-Bali, and the 24 shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data across the Ombai Strait during 1997-2000 were used as a combined dataset to understand sea level and current variability along the southern coast of Java and Lesser Sunda Islands. The first two dominant empirical orthogonal function (EOF) modes capture combined seasonal with interannual and seasonal variability that account for 44.5 and 19.9 % of the total variances caused by El Niño Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole events, and by the seasonal change of the Asian monsoon, respectively. The geostrophic current and ADCP data show that the eastward and westward currents are distinguishable via the vertical profiles of current velocity. The eastward-flowing South Java Current (SJC) is characterized by a large vertical shear and shallower diminishing depth of about 150 m and it is increased to 300 m in the presence of the Indian Ocean Kelvin Waves (IOKWs). In contrast, the westward current is dominated by the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) with no vertical shear and has uniform current in the upper 300 m layer. The coastally trapped SJC and IOKWs are responsible for the eastward current. The SJC is not observed in the westward current because of non-existence of coastally trapped modes. The ITF and SJC generate persistent cyclonic (cold) and anticyclonic (warm) mesoscale eddies, respectively, in waters south of eastern Java. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two onboard observation campaigns were carried out in the western boundary region of the Philippine Sea in December 2006 and January 2008 during the 2006/07 El Niño and the 2007/08 La Niña to observe the North Equatorial Current (NEC), Mindanao Current (MC), and Kuroshio current system. The NEC and MC measured in late 2006 under El Niño conditions were stronger than those measured during early 2008 under La Niña conditions. The opposite was true for the current speed of the Kuroshio, which was stronger in early 2008 than in late 2006. The increase in dynamic height around 8°N, 130°E from December 2006 to January 2008 resulted in a weakening of the NEC and MC. Local wind variability in this region did not appear to contribute to changes in the current system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the nature and mechanisms of the diurnal precipitation system over a coastal area of the Maritime Continent (MC) by utilizing the data from a field campaign, HARIMAU2010. During the 1-month campaign, diurnal cycles over Jakarta were well identified by special networked soundings and a C-band radar. Radar and satellites captured the convective-type heavy rains that appeared in the afternoon over the array, which were followed by stratiform-type precipitation during the night. Thermodynamic budget analyses were also performed using sounding data. The period-averaged vertical profiles of Q1 and Q2 indicate that diurnal precipitation acted as deep convection in the diabatic heating and drying. The diurnal composite of the obtained parameters revealed key processes such as (1) just before the onset of the afternoon convective rain, the lower troposphere was moistened by subarray-scale processes; (2) moistening of the troposphere continued during the convective heavy precipitation; (3) the stratiform rains during the night were partly maintained by consuming the pre-existing hydrometeor aloft; and (4) in the early morning, the clouds redeveloped over the ocean to produce precipitation as well as hydrometeor aloft. The possible physical processes promoting lower-tropospheric moistening before onset of the convective rain are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of the HARIMAU2010 campaign focusing on convective activity with the diurnal rainfall meridional march (DRMM) over Jakarta, which is located on the northern coast of Jawa Island of the Indonesian maritime continent (IMC), based on 1-month intensive observations by a C-band Doppler radar and multi-point atmospheric sounding array conducted during 16 January-14 February 2010. The campaign period corresponded to a phase after large-scale Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) active convections passed over Jakarta (MJO inactive phase). The cross-equatorial northerly surge (CENS) intruded into the Jawa Sea with a cold tongue (CT) of sea surface temperature (SST) in the beginning of the period (CENS active period: 16-26 January), and then, it started to retreat (transition period: 27 January-05 February); afterward, only a few signs of it were apparent (CENS inactive period: 06-14 February). The observational results showed that (1) rainfall over Jakarta has the nature of DRMM during the MJO inactive phase at least, (2) the DRMM is likely driven primarily by “land-breeze”-like local meridional circulation, and (3) the meridional spatiotemporal variation of rainfall over Jakarta is thus controlled by activities of both the CENS and CT over the Jawa Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Monsoon Asian Hydro−Atmosphere Scientific Research and Prediction Initiative (MAHASRI; 2006-16), we carried out two projects over the Indonesian maritime continent (IMC), constructing the Hydrometeorological Array for Intraseasonal Variation−Monsoon Automonitoring (HARIMAU; 2005-10) radar network and setting up a prototype institute for climate studies, the Maritime Continent Center of Excellence (MCCOE; 2009-14). Here, we review the climatological features of the world’s largest “regional” rainfall over the IMC studied in these projects. The fundamental mode of atmospheric variability over the IMC is the diurnal cycle generated along coastlines by land−sea temperature contrast: afternoon land becomes hotter than sea by clear-sky insolation before noon, with the opposite contrast before sunrise caused by evening rainfall-induced “sprinkler”-like land cooling (different from the extratropical infrared cooling on clear nights). Thus, unlike the extratropics, the diurnal cycle over the IMC is more important in the rainy season. The intraseasonal, seasonal to annual, and interannual climate variabilities appear as amplitude modulations of the diurnal cycle. For example, in Jawa and Bali the rainy season is the southern hemispheric summer, because land heating in the clear morning and water vapor transport by afternoon sea breeze is strongest in the season of maximum insolation. During El Niño, cooler sea water surrounding the IMC makes morning maritime convection and rainfall weaker than normal. Because the diurnal cycle is almost the only mechanism generating convective clouds systematically near the equator with little cyclone activity, the local annual rainfall amount in the tropics is a steeply decreasing function of coastal distance (e-folding scale 100-300 km), and regional annual rainfall is an increasing function of “coastline density” (coastal length/land area) measured at a horizontal resolution of 100 km. The coastline density effect explains why rainfall and latent heating over the IMC are twice the global mean for an area that makes up only 4% of the Earth’s surface. The diurnal cycles appearing almost synchronously over the whole IMC generate teleconnections between the IMC convection and the global climate. Thus, high-resolution (<< 100 km; << 1 day) observations and models over the IMC are essential to improve both local disaster prevention and global climate prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]