AMIE-GAN

ARM Madden-Julian Oscillation Investigation Experiment- Gan Island (AMIE-GAN)

1 October 2011 - 31 March 2012

Lead Scientist: Chuck Long

Observatory: AMF, GAN

The overarching campaign, which included the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) deployment in conjunction with the DYNAMO and CINDY2011 campaigns, was designed to test several current hypotheses regarding the mechanisms responsible for MJO (Madden-Julian Oscillation) initiation and propagation in the Indian Ocean area. The synergy between the proposed AMF2 deployment with DYNAMO/CINDY2011, and the corresponding funded experiment on Manus, combine for an overarching ARM MJO Investigation Experiment (AMIE) with two components: AMF2 on Gan Island, Maldives (AMIE-Gan) where the MJO initiates and starts its eastward propagation, and the Manus ARM site (AMIE-Manus) which is in the general area where the MJO usually starts to weaken in climate models. AMIE-Gan provided measurements of particular interest to Atmospheric System Research scientists relevant to improving the representation of MJO initiation in climate models. The framework of DYNAMO/CINDY2011 included two proposed island-based sites, and two ship-based locations forming a square pattern with sonde profiles and scanning precipitation and cloud radars at both island and ship sites. These data were used to produce a variational analysis data set coinciding with the one produced for AMIE-Manus. The synergy between AMIE-Manus and AMIE-Gan allowed studies of the initiation, propagation, and evolution of the convective cloud population within the framework of the MJO. As with AMIE-Manus, AMIE-Gan/DYNAMO also included a significant modeling component geared toward improving the representation of MJO initiation and propagation in climate and forecasting models.