The variations of dominant convection modes over Asia, Indian Ocean, and western Pacific Ocean during the summers of 1997-2004

The NOAA daily outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) daily precipitation data are used to study the variation of dominant convection modes and their relationships over Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific Ocean during the summers from 1997 to 2004. Major findings are as follows: (1) Regression analysis with the OLR indicates the convective variations over Asian monsoon region are more closely associated with the convective activities over the western subtropical Pacific (WSP) than with those over the northern tropical Indian Ocean (NTIO). (2) The EOF analysis of OLR indicates the first mode (EOF1) exhibits the out-of-phase variations between eastern China and India, and between eastern China and the WSP. The OLR EOF1 primarily exhibits seasonal and even longer-term variations. (3) The OLR EOF2 mostly displays in-phase convective variations over India, the Bay of Bengal, and southeastern China. A wavelet analysis reveals intraseasonal variation (ISV) features in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004. However, the effective ISV does not take place in every year and it seems to occur only when the centers of an east-west oriented dipole reach enough intensity over the tropical Indian and western Pacific Oceans. (4) The spatial patterns of OLR EOF3 are more complicated than those of EOF1 and EOF2, and an effective ISV is noted from 1999 to 2004. The OLR EOF3 implies there is added complexity of the OLR pattern when the effective ISV occurs. (5) The correlation analysis suggests the precipitation over India is more closely associated with the ISV, seasonal variations, and even longer-term variations than precipitation occurring over eastern China.