Impact of the Madden-Julian Oscillation on the intraseasonal forecast skill of the North Atlantic Oscillation

Abstract

Using the output of the intraseasonal hindcast experiment conducted with the GEM global atmospheric model during 24 extended winters, the association between the forecast skill of the NAO and the amplitude and phase of the MJO in the initial condition is investigated. It is found that with a lead time up to about one month the NAO forecast skill is significantly influenced by the existence of the MJO signal in the initial condition. A strong MJO leads to a better NAO forecast skill than a weak MJO. An initial state with an MJO phase corresponding to a dipole tropical convection anomaly in the eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific favors a more skillful NAO forecast than an MJO phase with a single tropical convection anomaly near 120E. These results indicate that it is possible to increase the skill of the NAO and the extratropical surface air temperature intraseasonal forecast with an improved tropical initialization, a better prediction of the tropical MJO and a better representation of the tropical-extratropical interaction in dynamical models. © 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.