Stratification and convection over Arabian Sea during monsoon 1979 from satellite data

From the temperature and moisture retrievals from satellites, two types of indices were derived: one indicating suppression of convection and the other indicating organized deep convection. Sea surface skin temperature and equivalent potential temperatures up to 500 mbar level of the atmosphere, derived from TIROS-N satellite products, are the basis of the two indices. The maps of these indices for various phases of 1979 monsoon are compared with percentage cloudiness, a product also available from TIROS-N satellite observations. Despite the various limitations of satellite soundings, it is shown that these satellite-derived indices can be used to indicate the strengths of atmospheric convection and inversion over the oceans.