The Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO): A Review

Abstract

 The boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) is among the most pronounced subseasonal variability in the tropics during boreal summer. Compared to its wintertime counterpart, the so-called Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), the BSISO convection displays more complicated spatio-temporal evolution, characterized by northward propagation over the northern Indian Ocean and western North Pacific as well as eastward propagation along the equator. It exerts a strong influence on a broad range of tropical weather and climate phenomena such as tropical cyclogenesis, monsoon onset and active/break cycles, among others. Our fundamental understanding of the BSISO has steadily advanced: so far various aspects of the BSISO have been described and several theories aiming to explain its northward propagation have been proposed. Yet, our skill to simulate the BSISO by general circulation models remains unsatisfactory, though it has been improved. This paper reviews some fundamental aspects of the BSISO from the viewpoint of observation, theory, and modeling.