Boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation in a superparameterized GCM: effects of air-sea coupling and ocean mean state

Abstract

<jats:p>Abstract. The effect of air-sea coupling on the simulated boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) is examined using atmosphere—ocean-mixed-layer coupled (SPCAM3-KPP) and uncoupled configurations of the Super-Parameterized (SP) Community Atmospheric Model, version 3 (SPCAM3). The coupled configuration is constrained to either the observed ocean mean state or the mean state from the SP coupled configuration with a dynamic ocean (SPCCSM3), to understand the effect of mean state biases on the BSISO in the latter. All configurations overestimate summer mean subtropical rainfall and its intraseasonal variance. All configurations simulate realistic BSISO northward propagation over the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, in common with other SP configurations. Constraining SPCAM3-KPP to the SPCCSM3 mean state reduces the overestimated BSISO variability, but also weakens BSISO propagation. Using the SPCCSM3 mean state also introduces a one-month delay to the BSISO seasonal cycle compared to SPCAM3-KPP with the observed ocean mean state, which matches well with the reanalysis. The phase relationship between intraseasonal rainfall and sea surface temperature (SST) is captured by all coupled models, but with a shorter delay between suppressed convection and warm SST relative to the reanalysis. Prescribing the 31-day smoothed SSTs from the SPCAM3-KPP simulations in SPCAM3 worsens the overestimated BSISO variance. This suggests that air-sea coupling improves the amplitude of the simulated BSISO. Based on a Taylor diagram, SPCCSM3 mean state SST biases and air-sea coupling both lead to higher simulated BSISO fidelity, largely due to their ability to suppress the overestimated subtropical BSISO variance. </jats:p>