In this paper we characterize the compactness of the commutator $[b,T]$ for the singular integral operator on the Morrey spaces $L^{p,\lambda}(\mathbb R^n)$. More precisely, we prove that if $b\in \operatorname{VMO}(\mathbb R^n)$, the $\operatorname {BMO} (\mathbb R^n)$-closure of $C_c^\infty(\mathbb R^n)$, then $[b,T]$ is a compact operator on the Morrey spaces $L^{p,\lambda}(\mathbb R^n)$ for $1\lt p\lt \infty$ and $0\lt \lambda\lt n$. Conversely, if $b\in \operatorname{BMO}(\mathbb R^n)$ and $[b,T]$ is a compact operator on the $L^{p,\,\lambda}(\mathbb R^n)$ for some $p\ (1\lt p\lt \infty)$, then $b\in \operatorname {VMO}(\mathbb R^n)$. Moreover, the boundedness of a rough singular integral operator $T$ and its commutator $[b,T]$ on $L^{p,\,\lambda}(\mathbb R^n)$ are also given. We obtain a sufficient condition for a subset in Morrey space to be a strongly pre-compact set, which has interest in its own right.

In this paper we establish \emph{a priori} $h^1$-estimates in a bounded domain for parabolic equations with vanishing $\operatorname{LMO}$ coefficients.