Does the QBO affect other modes of organized triopical convection besides the MJO?

What is it about?

The stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation has been shown to affect the amplitude of the Madden Julian Oscillation during the boreal winter season. We assess whether other modes of organized tropical convection, such as equatorial Kelvin waves and Rossby waves are similarly affected. Our results indicate that the other modes of organised convection are not affected by the QBO.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Our results are important because they indicate that it is the unique horizontal and vertical structure of the MJO that allows it to interact with the QBO. The other modes of organized tropical convection are too tilted in the vertical and don't extend as far toward the equatorial tropopause as does the MJO, so they can't "feel" the affects of the QBO at the tropopause.