Monsoon intraseasonal oscillation and land–atmosphere interaction in an idealized model

A simple coupled model is used in a zonally-symmetric configuration to investigate the effect of land–atmosphere coupling on the Asian monsoon intraseasonal oscillation. The atmospheric model is a version of the Quasi-equilibrium Tropical Circulation Model with a prognostic atmospheric boundary layer, as well as two free-tropospheric modes in momentum, and one each in moisture and temperature. The land model is the simple one-layer model SLand. The complete nonlinear version and a linear version of the model are used to understand how land–atmosphere interaction influences the northward-propagating intraseasonal oscillation that has been documented in the atmospheric model (Bellon and Sobel in J Geophys Res 113, 2008a, J Atmos Sci 65:470–489, 2008b). Our results show that this interaction damps the intraseasonal variability in most cases. The small heat capacity of land surfaces is the main factor that intervenes directly in the dynamics of the intraseasonal oscillation and explains the damping of intraseasonal variability. But in a few peculiar cases, the small heat capacity of land can also cause a strong interaction between the intraseasonal oscillation and the mean state via the nonlinearity of precipitation, that enhances the monsoon intraseasonal variability. High land albedo indirectly influences the intraseasonal variability by setting the seasonal mean circulation to conditions unfavorable for the monsoon intraseasonal oscillation.