Observação da oscilação de Madden & Julian em um ano de um evento El Niño (1993) usando análise multivariada em componentes principais.

Abstract

We analyzed the behavior of the Madden & Julian Oscillation (MJO) during 1993, a year of an El Nino episode. We observed both time and space variation within a strip of the globe limited by the latitudes of 20 °N and 20 °S. To accomplish this, we used the following NCEP-reanalysis daily data: total precipitation rate, mean sea level pressure, zonal wind at 850 and 250 hPa* latent heat fluxy long-wave radiation emitted to space and 700-hPa air temperature. These data are distributed in a 2.5 by 2.5 degree grid mesh. Our motivation to develop this study came from the fact, widely supported by literature, that MJO activity tends to be weak or even absent during years of strong or moderate El Nino events. We used Multivariate Analysis: Principal Components, Fourier analysis, and space correlation. The results showed that the Principal Components technique was able to detect the activities of MJO during 1993. By using moving mean in space, we could observe both the time variation and the eastward propagation of the MJO. However the linear correlation technique did not show a good tool to detect the MJO during El Nino years. The North-East of Brazil analysis, through a global-to-regional reduction of scale, allowed a better identification of oscillations associated to systems with smaller time scale. It enhanced the observation of Rossby-type perturbations and, in a lesser degree, the MJO.