Interactions between the 30-60 Day Oscillation, the Walker Circulation and the Convective Activities in the Tropical Western Pacific and Their Relations to the Interannual Oscillation

In this paper, interactions between the 30-60 day oscillation, the Walker circulation and the convective activities in the tropical western Pacific during the Northern Hemisphere summer are analyzed by using the observed data of wind fields and high-cloud amounts for the period from 1980 to 1989.The analyzed results show that the 30-60 day oscillation (hereafter called LFO) may be largely affected by the convective activities in the tropical western Pacific. The LFO in the tropical western Pacific during the strong convective activities around the Philippines stronger than those during the weak convective activities around the Philippines. Moreover, in the case of strong convective activities around the Philippines, the LFO in the tropical west-ern Pacific and tropical eastern Indian Ocean generally propagates westward, and it is intensified by the LFO with a westward propagating center of maximum oscillation from the east to 140oE. However, in the case of weak convective activities around the Philippines, the LFO gradually becomes stronger with a eastward propagating center of maximum oscillation from the eastern Indian Ocean to the tropical western Pacific.Corresponding to the 30-60 day oscillation, the Walker circulation is also in oscillation over the tropical Pacific and its circulation cell seems to shift gradually westward from the tropical western Pacific to the tropical eastern In-dian Ocean with strong convective activities around the Philippines. This may maintain the intensification of convective activities there. However, during the weak convective activities around the Philippines, the Walker circula-tion gradually moves eastward and an ascending flow may appear in the equatorial central Pacific. This may cause convective activities to be intensified over the equatorial central Pacific.The analyzed results also show that the LFO in the tropical western Pacific and East Asia may be associated with the interannual oscillation of the SST anomaly in the tropical western Pacific.