Remote ocean response to the Madden-Julian Oscillation during the DYNAMO field campaign: Impact on Somali current system and the Seychelles-Chagos thermocline ridge

Strong eastward equatorial currents in the upper ocean lasted more than one month from late November 2011 to early January 2012. The remote ocean response to these unique MJO events are investigated using a high resolution (1/25 degrees) global ocean general circulation model along with the satellite altimeter data.

The local ocean response to the MJO events are realistically simulated by the global model based on the comparison with the data collected during the field campaign. The satellite altimeter data show that anomalous sea surface height (SSH) associated with the strong eastward jets propagated eastward as an equatorial Kelvin wave. The positive SSH anomalies then partly propagate westward as a reflected Rossby wave.