Relationship between the SST diurnal cycle over the Tropical Western Pacific Ocean and subseasonal/seasonal oscillations: Associations with wind speed and outgoing longwave radiation

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between SST diurnal cycle,10 m wind speed (W₁₀) and Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) is investigated. A wavelet spectral analysis was applied to SST hourly data to identify the SST diurnal cycle over the Tropical Western Pacific Ocean (TWPO). The SST diurnal cycle was identified as a prominent spectrum peak in waves with an oscillation period of 1 day. An inverse energy cascade hypothesis suggests that the energy from the SST diurnal cycle propagates and gets absorbed by waves within the subseasonal timescale. Three windows were selected to represent the diurnal (0–2 days), subseasonal (15–60 days), and seasonal (80–200 days) timescales. A wavelet-filtered analysis was performed in these windows, revealing inverse SST/ wind speed and direct SST/ OLR correlations over TWPO. These findings are consistent with empirical parametric models. Additionally, this study demonstrates the rectification mechanism of SST through a wavelet-filtered approach, identifying statistically significant correlations at the 5 % level within the diurnal window (0–2 days), particularly in the central tropical Pacific. Wavelet-filtered anomalies of SST, W₁₀, and OLR along 50–160°E reveal the alternating dry and wet phase propagation across the Indo-Pacific in the subseasonal window, which is associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). Furthermore, westward propagating anomalies in the Indian Ocean and eastward propagating anomalies east of the Maritime Continent (MC) and within the Pacific were identified in the seasonal window, resembling patterns of Rossby and equatorial Kelvin waves, respectively.