Biennial Oscillation (biennial + oscillation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Biennial Oscillation

  • tropospheric biennial oscillation


  • Selected Abstracts


    Individual and combined influence of El Niño,Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole on the Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation

    THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 647 2010
    Prasanth A. Pillai
    Abstract Tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO) is the tendency of a strong monsoon to be followed by a weaker one and vice versa. It involves both oceanic and atmospheric processes in the tropical Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. The present study analyses the effect of dynamical processes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans like the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño,Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the TBO. The 200 hPa velocity potential, 850 hPa zonal wind and sea-surface temperature datasets obtained from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for the period 1950,2006 are used for the study of the TBO. The IOD and TBO have both in-phase (positive/negative IOD with positive/negative TBO) and out-of-phase (positive/negative IOD with negative/positive TBO) relationships. On the other hand, La Niña is associated with the positive phase of TBO and El Niño with the negative phase. In the presence of El Niño (La Niña), positive (negative) IOD is associated with negative (positive) TBO and in the absence of ENSO, positive (negative) IOD is associated with positive (negative) phase of TBO. When ENSO is associated with TBO, it tends to dominate the biennial transition irrespective of IOD. In-phase Indian to Australian monsoon transition of TBO is controlled by ENSO. IOD,TBO association is strong and significant in the absence of ENSO only. The biennial reversal is confined to the Indian Ocean in the TBO cycle associated with IOD only. Thus IOD can be considered as the local forcing for the biennial monsoon cycle, and ENSO the remote effect. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


    Effect of late 1970's climate shift on tropospheric biennial oscillation,role of local Indian Ocean processes on Asian summer monsoon

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
    Prasanth A Pillai
    Abstract The tropical climate has undergone noticeable changes on interdecadal time scales. The climate shift that occurred in the late 1970s attained enormous attention owing to its global-scale variations in ocean temperature, heat content and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) properties. Earlier studies presented the effect of this shift on ENSO and the Asian summer monsoon,ENSO relationship. The present study is an attempt to investigate the effect of late 1970's climate shift on tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO), which is an important tropical phenomenon that includes both air,sea processes in the tropical Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. TBO is the tendency for the Asian,Australian monsoon system to alternate between relatively strong and weak years. The study comprises a detailed analysis of the TBO cycle in the time periods before (1951,1975) and after (1978,2002) the climate shift in 1976 with the help of National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) data sets of 200-hPa velocity potential; the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) and circulation are more obvious after the shift, although they were significant in the Pacific Ocean before 1976. The effect of ENSO in the biennial cycle is reduced with climate shift. The persistence of Asian-to-Australian summer monsoon has weakened in recent decades, as it is controlled by ENSO. Local oceanic processes in the Indian Ocean and local monsoon Hadley circulation have an increased role in the biennial oscillation of the Asian summer monsoon after 1976. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


    Observational relationships between summer and winter monsoons over East Asia.

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2005
    Part II: results
    Abstract Using the framework presented in part I of this study, three possible summer-to-winter monsoon and four possible winter-to-summer monsoon relationships are identified. A generalized relationship between summer and winter monsoons is virtually non-existent, and some of the possible relationships are in fact tied to the influence of the El Niño,southern oscillation (ENSO). Indeed, relationships between summer and winter monsoons are specific in terms of both the winter monsoon strength and the ENSO conditions. It is found that the strength of winter monsoon is unlikely to be an important forcing regarding the possible winter-to-summer monsoon relationships, since the summer monsoon is unlikely to be weak following a non-ENSO-coupled winter monsoon, regardless of the winter monsoon strength. On the other hand, possible summer-to-winter relationships are noted only when the summer monsoon is not weak, regardless of the ENSO condition. An alternation or opposite tendency in the summer monsoon strength is noted between the onset year (tends to be unlikely weak) and the following year (tends to be unlikely strong) of an El Niño. Therefore, certain possible relationships between summer and winter monsoons are obvious when the winter monsoon tends to be weaker during the mature phase of an El Niño. For a La Niña, the signature in the summer monsoon strength is less clear, as indicated from the assessment of summer monsoon indices. Nevertheless, when the winter monsoon tends to be strong when coupled with a La Niña, the following summer monsoon also tends to be weaker. A biennial alternation of the summer and winter monsoons is noted, i.e. that a stronger summer monsoon precedes a weaker winter monsoon and a weaker winter monsoon is followed by a stronger summer monsoon. This biennial alternation is associated with a transition of ENSO warm phase to ENSO cold phase, representing the biennial signal in the interannual variability of the monsoons as well as in ENSO. Concurrent with this biennial alternation is an evident variation in the subtropical-high strength. It appears that the commonly recognized tropical biennial oscillation (TBO) is not tied to the biennial signal in the interannual variability of the East Asian monsoons, because the TBO is constituted by a strong (weak) summer monsoon followed by strong (weak) winter monsoon process. Furthermore, it is suggested that a complete biennial oscillation in the interannual variability of the monsoons is not observed because of the breakdown of a cycle (or oscillation) in the summer monsoon following a La Niña onset. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society. [source]


    Individual and combined influence of El Niño,Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole on the Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation

    THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 647 2010
    Prasanth A. Pillai
    Abstract Tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO) is the tendency of a strong monsoon to be followed by a weaker one and vice versa. It involves both oceanic and atmospheric processes in the tropical Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. The present study analyses the effect of dynamical processes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans like the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño,Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the TBO. The 200 hPa velocity potential, 850 hPa zonal wind and sea-surface temperature datasets obtained from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for the period 1950,2006 are used for the study of the TBO. The IOD and TBO have both in-phase (positive/negative IOD with positive/negative TBO) and out-of-phase (positive/negative IOD with negative/positive TBO) relationships. On the other hand, La Niña is associated with the positive phase of TBO and El Niño with the negative phase. In the presence of El Niño (La Niña), positive (negative) IOD is associated with negative (positive) TBO and in the absence of ENSO, positive (negative) IOD is associated with positive (negative) phase of TBO. When ENSO is associated with TBO, it tends to dominate the biennial transition irrespective of IOD. In-phase Indian to Australian monsoon transition of TBO is controlled by ENSO. IOD,TBO association is strong and significant in the absence of ENSO only. The biennial reversal is confined to the Indian Ocean in the TBO cycle associated with IOD only. Thus IOD can be considered as the local forcing for the biennial monsoon cycle, and ENSO the remote effect. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [source]