Intraseasonal Variability of the Zonal Mean Tropical Tropopause Height

Intraseasonal variability of the zonal mean tropical tropopause height in the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data is shown to be modulated by localized tropical convection. Most of this convective activity is identified as being part of the Madden-Julian Oscillation. While the convection is highly localized over the Pacific warm pool, a large-scale circulation response to the convective heating rapidly warms most of the tropical troposphere, and cools most of the lowest few kilometers of the tropical stratosphere. These changes in temperature fields raise the tropical tropopause at most longitudes within 10 days of the convective heating maximum.