Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillations in the MJO Skeleton Model with Observation-Based Forcing

The Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) skeleton model is a low-order model for intraseasonal oscillations that, in an extended form, includes off-equatorial and antisymmetric components. Previous studies of this extended model have used an idealized background state and forcing terms. In the current study, observation-based estimates of these forcing terms and background state are used. Linear solutions to the extended model with this observation-based forcing consist of both equatorially-symmetric convective events and events with a meridional tilt reminiscent of composites of the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) in observational studies. Solutions to a nonlinear stochastic form of the model exhibit realistic precipitation mean and variance and intraseasonal variability throughout much of the tropics. These solutions contain several types of events, including some that contain meridionally-tilted convective activity that moves both northward and eastward. Solutions to both forms of the model also indicate that this BSISO-like convective activity is coupled to activity over the eastern Pacific. A discussion of these features and their agreement with previous observational studies of the BSISO is given.