The land‐sea contrast in the Maritime Continent (MC) has been found to influence the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). However, the specific contribution from individual islands to the precipitation over the surrounding islands during MJO propagation is not well known. We found that when an island is removed in the presence of lower‐tropospheric westerlies, precipitation increases over islands that are located to its east due to the strengthening of the westerlies. Frictional convergence of the stronger westerlies, aided by Coriolis, leads to an increase in vertical advection of moisture and precipitation over an island located to the east. On the other hand, the reduced heating over the removed island reduces the westerlies and precipitation to the west of the removed island and is consistent with the response of large‐scale circulation to tropical heating. During background easterlies prior to MJO arrival, a systematic decrease in precipitation was found in the surrounding islands to the west side of the removed island. But, on the eastern side of the removed island, no systematic change in precipitation was found. The results imply that changes in large‐scale circulation in response to convection (or a lack thereof) over a removed island may significantly influence precipitation in the neighboring islands. Therefore, biases in model precipitation over an island in the MC may arise from bias in precipitation over a neighboring island. Moreover, the presence of different island chains in the MC has led to a more conducive environment for more overall precipitation over the islands in the MC.

Precipitation can induce a surface sensible heat flux since the raindrops are generally cooler than the surface. This precipitation‐induced sensible heat flux ( Q _P ) is typically ignored in models. However, during heavy rainfall, Q _P can be large and may not be negligible such as over India during the summer monsoon season. We provide the first results of incorporating Q _P in a simulation that shows ∼2% (∼5%) reduction in precipitation over India compared to the simulation without Q _P during a monsoonal active phase in 2017 (2018). This reduction was primarily due to a reduction in vertical advection of moisture. Additionally, Q _P modified the spatial distribution of precipitation with 40% of the geographical area encountering alterations of at least 20% in precipitation. This change in precipitation distribution across the region can have important implications for regional agriculture and irrigation practices. Changes in the partitioning of surface heat flux components due to Q _P is also discussed.

Due to rapid urbanization, the near-surface meteorological conditions over urban areas are greatly modulated. To capture such modulations, sophisticated urban parameterizations with enhanced hydrological processes have been developed. In this study, we use the single-layer urban canopy model (SLUCM) available within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to assess the response of near-surface temperature, wind, and moisture to advection under the impact of the green roof. An ensemble of simulations with different planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes is conducted in the presence (green roof (GR)) and absence (control (CTL)) of green roof systems. Our results indicate that the near-surface temperature is found to be driven primarily by the surface heat flux with a minor influence from the zonal advection of temperature. The momentum budget analysis shows that both zonal and meridional momentum advection during the evening and early nighttime plays an important role in modulating winds over urban areas. The near-surface humidity remains nearly unchanged in GR compared to CTL, although the physical processes that determine the changes in humidity were different, in particular during the evening when the GR tends to have less moisture advection due to the reduced temperature gradient between the urban areas and the surroundings. Implications of our results are discussed.

Precipitation cools the surface because the temperature of raindrops is typically lower than the temperature of the surface. This precipitation‐induced sensible heat flux (Q_P) due to the temperature difference between the surface and raindrops is thought to be small and is typically ignored in weather and climate models. However, there are many instances in which instantaneous values in Q_P can be large, especially in extreme rainfall events. In this study, we provide a systematic estimate of Q_P over the tropics based on in‐situ buoy observations, satellite data, and reanalysis. The results show that the highest climatological Q_P values (~2 to 3 W m⁻²) are found over the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), both associated with higher amount of precipitation. The Q_P over land, however, is not well correlated with precipitation due to a more complex relationship between the raindrops temperature and surface temperature. Estimation of Q_P based on in‐situ buoy observations shows that Q_P can be large at shorter time scales, and can be higher than surface sensible heat flux due to air‐sea temperature difference (Q_SH), and even surface latent heat flux (Q_LH), for heavy precipitating events. Implications of these results and possible future research avenues related to Q_P are discussed.