Relationships between the Global General Circulation and the Indian Summer Monsoon

The relationships between the global general circulation and the Indian monsoon during active and break phases are investigated with the help of FGGE IIIb data.It was found that the ultralong wave component positive and negative height anomalies over Tibet are associated with active and break monsoon phases respectively. This ultralong wave component has significant effect even upto 22°N over the Indian region which is the monsoon trough region. During a monsoon break, the general circulation was found to be more turbulent in the sense that more waves become energised.It was observed that during a break, blocking prevails over the Siberian region and cold air advection takes place toward Indian region from Siberian region depressing the temperatures over the Indian region by about 1℃. During the break, the Indian region gets connected with higher latitudes by the south winds blowing from polar Soviet regions to the Indian region. From active to break phase the zonal component weakens by about 25% from     

The ENSO Events in the Tropical Pacific and Dipole Events in the Indian Ocean

A depth map (close to that of the thermocline as defined by 20℃) of climatically maximum seatemperature anomaly was created at the subsurface of the tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean, based on which the evolving sea-temperature anomaly at this depth map from 1960 to 2000 was statistically analyzed. It is noted that the evolving sea temperature anomaly at this depth map can be better analyzed than the evolving sea surface one. For example, during the ENSO event in the tropical Pacific, the seatemperature anomaly signals travel counter-clockwise within the range of 10°S-10°N, and while moving, the signals change in intensity or even type. If Dipole is used in the tropical Indian Ocean for analyzing the depth map of maximum sea-temperature anomaly, the sea-temperature anomalies of the eastern and western Indian Oceans would be negatively correlated in statistical sense (Dipole in real physical sense), which is unlike the sea surface temperature anomaly based analysis which demonstrates that the inter-annual positive and negative changes only occur on the gradients of the western and eastern temperature anomalies. Further analysis shows that the development of ENSO and Dipole has a time lag features statistically, with the sea-temperature anomaly in the eastern equatorial Pacific changing earlier (by three months or so). And the linkage between these two changes is a pair of coupled evolving Walker circulations that move reversely in the equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans.     

Influence of the strongest positive Indian Ocean Dipole and an El Niño Modoki event on the 2019 Indian summer monsoon

The year 2019 experienced an excess monsoon season over the Indian region, with the seasonal rainfall being 110 % of the long period average (LPA). Several zones across the country suffered multiple extreme rainfall events and flood situations resulting in a massive loss of life and property. The first half of 2019 experienced a moderate El Niño Modoki event that lasted till mid-summer. Another important feature of 2019 was the strongest recorded positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) that lasted approximately seven months from May to November. This study has examined the reasons for the intra-seasonal variability of rainfall over India during the 2019 monsoon using available remote sensing and reanalysis data. Our analysis has shown that the presence of El Niño and the formation of a very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) in the Arabian Sea were unfavorable for the monsoon onset and its northward advancement during June. However, the Walker circulation associated with El Niño helped strengthen the IOD developed early in the Indian Ocean, much before the monsoon onset. The anomalously strong IOD strengthened the monsoon circulation during July-September and resulted in excess rainfall over India.     

Influences of Madden–Julian Oscillations on the eastern Indian Ocean and the maritime continent

Oceanic response to Madden–Julian Oscillations (MJOs) is studied with satellite data, mooring observations, and reanalysis products to demonstrate that oceanic intraseasonal variabilities are a direct response to the atmospheric intraseasonal forcing. They propagate eastward to the Sumatran coast and southward along the coast to the southeastern Indian Ocean (SEIO) and the maritime continent, as coastal Kelvin waves. MJOs contribute to about 20% of the intraseasonal variabilities in the SEIO and the maritime continent. In addition, MJOs reduce the annual mean Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) and the associated westward temperature advection. However, MJOs only have slight influences on the peak ITF in boreal summer. The importance of INSTANT data is obvious not only for understanding of ITF but also for improving ocean reanalysis and should eventually lead to improved predictive understanding of phenomena such as MJOs.     

On the Spatio-Temporal Variations of the Tropopause Height over India and Indian Summer Monsoon Activity

The spatio-temporal variation of the tropopause height (TH) over the Indian region (5°N-35°N, 70°E-95°E) has been studied using monthly mean TH data, for 22-year period, 1965 to 1986. The study revealed that the stations south of 20° showed maximum TH in April / May and minimum in September. This variation in TH has been attributed to the corresponding variation of average sea surface temperature (SST) over ± 20° latitudinal belt over Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Further the stations north of 20°N showed maximum in June and minimum in October/ November. This maximum in TH has primarily been attributed to the increased insolation and convection. Furthermore it is noticed that the anomaly of TH moved northwards during the period April to July.The interannual variability of the Indian Summer Monsoon Activity (ISMA) has been studied in relation to all India mean TH (at 12 GMT) for six months April through September. The composites of mean TH for good and bad monsoon years showed that     

The Extreme Mei-yu Season in 2020: Role of the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the Cooperative Influence of the Pacific and Indian Oceans※

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in eastern China during summer 2020 suffered the strongest mei-yu since 1961. In this work, we comprehensively analyzed the mechanism of the extreme mei-yu season in 2020, with focuses on the combined effects of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and the cooperative influence of the Pacific and Indian Oceans in 2020 and from a historical perspective. The prediction and predictability of the extreme mei-yu are further investigated by assessing the performances of the climate model operational predictions and simulations. 　 It is noted that persistent MJO phases 1?2 during June?July 2020 played a crucial role for the extreme mei-yu by strengthening the western Pacific subtropical high. Both the development of La Ni?a conditions and sea surface temperature (SST) warming in the tropical Indian Ocean exerted important influences on the long-lived MJO phases 1?2 by slowing down the eastward propagation of the MJO and activating convection related to the MJO over the tropical Indian Ocean. The spatial distribution of the 2020 mei-yu can be qualitatively captured in model real-time forecasts with a one-month lead. This can be attributed to the contributions of both the tropical Indian Ocean warming and La Ni?a development. Nevertheless, the mei-yu rainfall amounts are seriously underestimated. Model simulations forced with observed SST suggest that internal processes of the atmosphere play a more important role than boundary forcing (e.g., SST) in the variability of mei-yu anomaly, implying a challenge in quantitatively predicting an extreme mei-yu season, like the one in 2020.     

Intraseasonal Oscillation in the Tropical Indian Ocean

1. Introduction The intraseasonal oscillation (ISO or Madden- Julian Oscillation, MJO) in the tropical atmosphere has been studied extensively, including its existence, structure, evolution and propagation (Madden and Ju- lian, 1971; Murakami, et al., 198…     

On the relationship between Indian monsoon withdrawal and Iran’s fall precipitation onset

Indian monsoon is the most prominent of the world’s monsoon systems which primarily affects synoptic patterns of India and adjacent countries such as Iran in interaction with large-scale weather systems. In this article, the relationship between the withdrawal date of the Indian monsoon and the onset of fall precipitation in Iran has been studied. Data included annual time series of withdrawal dates of the Indian monsoon prepared by the Indian Institute for Tropical Meteorology, and time series of the first date of 25 mm accumulated precipitation over Iran’s synoptic weather stations in a 10-day period which is the basis for the cultivation date. Both time series were considered in Julian calendar with the starting date on August 1. The studied period is 1960–2014 which covers 55 years of data from 36 meteorological stations in Iran. By classifying the withdrawal dates of the Indian monsoon in three stages of late, normal, and early withdrawals, its relation with the onset of fall precipitation in western, southwestern, southern, eastern, central, and northern regions of Iran was studied. Results demonstrated that in four out of the six mentioned regions, the late withdrawal of the Indian monsoon postpones the onset of fall precipitation over Iran. No significant relation was found between the onset of fall precipitation in central region of Iran and the monsoon’s withdrawal date. In the western, southwestern, southern, and eastern regions of Iran, the late monsoon delays the onset of fall’s precipitation; while in the south Caspian Sea coastal area, it causes the early onset of autumnal precipitation. The lag in onset of fall precipitation in Iran which is coordinated with the late withdrawal of monsoon is accompanied with prolonged subtropical high settling over Iran’s plateau that prevents the southward movement of polar jet frontal systems. Such conditions enhance northerly wind currents over the Caspian Sea which, in turn, increase the precipitation in Caspian coastal provinces, which has a different behavior from the overall response of Iran’s climate to the late withdrawal of monsoon. In the phase of early monsoon withdrawal, the subtropical jet is located at the 200 hPa level in 32.5° north latitude; compared with the late withdrawal date, it shows a 2° southward movement. Additionally, the 500 hPa trough is also located in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the MSL pressure anomaly is between ? 4 to ? 7 hPa. The Mediterranean trough in the late withdrawal phase is located in its central zones. It seems that the lack of significant correlation between late withdrawal date of Indian monsoon and late fall’s precipitation onset in the central region of Iran depends on three reasons:1. Lack of adequate weather stations in central region of Iran.2. Precipitation standard deviations over arid and warm regions are high.3. Central flat region of Iran without any source of humidity is located to the lee side of Zagros mountain range. So intensification or development of frontal systems is almost prohibited over there.     

The Shallow Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Northern Indian Ocean and Its Interannual Variability

The shallow meridional overturning circulation (upper 1000 m) in the northern Indian Ocean and its interannual variability are studied, based on a global ocean circulation model (MOM2) with an integration of 10 years (1987-1996). It is shown that the shallow meridional overturning circulation has a prominent seasonal reversal characteristic. In winter, the flow is northward in the upper layer and returns southward at great depth. In summer, the deep northward inflow upwells north of the equator and returns southward in the Ekman layer. In the annual mean, the northward inflow returns through two branches: one is a southward flow in the Ekman layer, the other is a flow that sinks near 10°N and returns southward between 500 m and 1000 m. There is significant interannual variability in the shallow meridional overturning circulation, with a stronger (weaker) one in 1989 (1991) and with a period of about four years. The interannual variability of the shallow meridional overturning circulation is intimately r     

Pre-onset land surface processes and ��internal�� interannual variabilities of the Indian summer monsoon

It is proposed that, land?Catmosphere interaction around the time of monsoon onset could modulate the first episode of climatological intraseasonal oscillation (CISO) and may generate significant ??internal?? interannual variation in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. The regional climate model RegCM3 is used over Indian monsoon domain for 27?years of control simulation. In order to prove the hypothesis, another two sets of experiment are performed using two different boundary conditions (El Ni?o year and non-ENSO year). In each of these experiments, a single year of boundary conditions are used repeatedly year after year to generate ??internal?? interannual monsoon variability. Simulation of monsoon climate in the control model run is found to be in reasonably good agreement with observation. However, large rainfall bias is seen over Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The interannual monsoon rainfall variability are of the same order in two experiments, which suggest that the external influences may not be important on the generation of ??internal?? monsoon rainfall variability. It is shown that, a dry (wet) pre-onset land-surface condition increases (decreases) rainfall in June which in turn leads to an anomalous increase (decrease) in seasonal (JJAS) rainfall. The phase and amplitude of CISO are modulated during May?CJune and beyond that the modulation of CISO is quite negligible. Though the pre-onset rainfall is unpredictable, significant modulation of the post-onset monsoon rainfall by it can be exploited to improve predictive skill within the monsoon season.     

Climate change and crop yields in the Indian Cardamom Hills, 1978–2007 CE

In this study we analyzed climate and crop yields data from Indian cardamom hills for the period 1978–2007 to investigate whether there were significant changes in weather elements, and if such changes have had significant impact on the production of spices and plantation crops. Spatial and temporal variations in air temperatures (maximum and minimum), rainfall and relative humidity are evident across stations. The mean air temperature increased significantly during the last 30?years; the greatest increase and the largest significant upward trend was observed in the daily temperature. The highest increase in minimum temperature was registered for June (0.37°C/18?years) at the Myladumpara station. December and January showed greater warming across the stations. Rainfall during the main monsoon months (June–September) showed a downward trend. Relative humidity showed increasing and decreasing trends, respectively, at the cardamom and tea growing tracts. The warming trend coupled with frequent wet and dry spells during the summer is likely to have a favorable effect on insect pests and disease causing organisms thereby pesticide consumption can go up both during excess rainfall and drought years. The incidence of many minor pest insects and disease pathogens has increased in the recent years of our study along with warming. Significant and slight increases in the yield of small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum M.) and coffee (Coffea arabica), respectively, were noticed in the recent years.; however the improvement of yield in tea (Thea sinensis) and black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) has not been seen in our analysis.     

The Variability of the Interannual Oscillations of the Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall

A new method of analysis namely, Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) is applied to the Indian Summer Monsoon (June-September) Rainfall (ISMR) series. The method is efficient in extracting the statistically significant oscillations with periods 2.8 and 2.3 year from the white noise of the ISMR series. The study shows that 2.8 / 2.3 year cycle captures the variability of the ISMR related to Southern Oscillation / Quasi Biennial Oscillation. The temporal structure of these oscillations show that these are in phase in extreme (excess and drought) monsoon conditions as well as in El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years. Both these oscillations show minimum variability during the period 1920-1940 and there is an increasing trend in the variability of these oscillations in the recent decades. The study enables to obtain pure signal consisting of reconstructed time series using these two Oscillations, from the original white noise series.     

The Positive Indian Ocean Dipole–like Response in the Tropical Indian Ocean to Global Warming

Climate models project a positive Indian Ocean Dipole(p IOD)–like SST response in the tropical Indian Ocean to global warming. By employing the Community Earth System Model and applying an overriding technique to its ocean component(version 2 of the Parallel Ocean Program), this study investigates the similarities and differences of the formation mechanisms for the changes in the tropical Indian Ocean during the p IOD versus global warming. Results show that their formation processes and related seasonality are quite similar; in particular, wind–thermocline–SST feedback is the leading mechanism in producing the anomalous cooling over the eastern tropics in both cases. Some differences are also found, including the fact that the cooling effect of the vertical advection over the eastern tropical Indian Ocean is dominated by the anomalous vertical velocity during the p IOD but by the anomalous upper-ocean stratification under global warming. These findings are further examined through an analysis of the mixed layer heat budget.     

How is the Indian Ocean Subtropical Dipole excited?

Based on experiments using a coupled general circulation model which resolves tropical ocean–atmosphere coupled phenomena such as El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole, forcing mechanisms of the Indian Ocean subtropical dipole (IOSD) are investigated. In the control experiment, as in the observation, several types of the IOSD are generated by the variations in the Mascarene High during austral summer and characterized by a dipole pattern of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the northeastern and southwestern parts of the southern Indian Ocean. In another experiment, where the SST outside the southern Indian Ocean is nudged toward the monthly climatology of the simulated SST, one type of the IOSD occurs, but it is less frequent and associated with the zonal wavenumber four pattern of equivalently barotropic geopotential height anomalies in high latitudes, suggesting an interesting link with the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave. This indicates that, even without the atmospheric teleconnection from tropical coupled climate modes, the IOSD may develop in association with the atmospheric variability in high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. In the other experiment, where only the southern Indian Ocean and the tropical Pacific are freely interactive with the atmosphere, two types of both positive and negative IOSD occur. Since the occurrence frequency of the IOSD significantly increases as compared to the second experiment, this result confirms that the atmospheric teleconnection from ocean-atmosphere coupled modes in the tropical Pacific such as ENSO may also induce the variations in the Mascarene High that generate the IOSD. The present research, even within the realm of model studies, shows clearly that the predictability of the IOSD in mid-latitudes is related to both low and high-latitudes climate variations.     

Analysis of Indian Monsoon and Associated Low-Level Circulation in 1980 and 1981

In this paper, Indian monsoon of 1980 and 1981 is analysed based on the seasonal and half-month averaged data of 850 hPa of ECMWF analysis. The results show that Indian monsoon is related to Somali jet, the low-latitude easterlies and the mid-latitude westerlies over southern Indian Ocean, which are associated with the stationary wave of Southern Hemisphere. The forces affecting on the low-level flow are diagnosed, which display the relationship between Indian monsoon and the associated low-level flow.     

Spring asymmetric mode in the tropical Indian Ocean: role of El Niño and IOD

The spring asymmetric mode over the Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) is characterized by contrasting patterns of rainfall and surface wind anomalies north and south of Equator. The asymmetric pattern in rainfall has evolved as a leading mode of variability in the TIO and is strongly correlated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The evolution of the asymmetric pattern in rainfall and surface wind during pure El Niño/IOD and co-occurrence years are examined in the twentieth century reanalysis for the period of 1871–2008 and atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations. The study revealed that spring asymmetric mode is well developed when El Niño co-occurred with IOD (positive) and is driven by the associated meridional gradients in sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP). The pure El Niño composites are characterized by homogeneous (spatially) SST anomalies (positive) and weaker SLP gradients and convection, leading to weak asymmetric mode. The asymmetric mode is absent in the pure IOD (positive) composites due to the persistence of east west SST gradient for a longer duration than the co-occurrence years. The meridional gradient in SST anomalies over the TIO associated with the ENSO-IOD forcing is therefore crucial in developing/strengthening the spring asymmetric mode. The northwest Pacific anticyclonic circulation further strengthen the asymmetric mode in surface winds by inducing northeasterlies in the north Indian Ocean during pure El Niño and co-occurrence years. The simulations based on AGCM, forced by observed SSTs during the period of 1871–2000 supported the findings. The analysis of available station and ship track data further strengthens our results.     

On the Second-Year Warming in Late 2019 over the Tropical Pacific and Its Attribution to an Indian Ocean Dipole Event※

After its maturity, El Ni?o usually decays rapidly in the following summer and evolves into a La Ni?a pattern. However, this was not the case for the 2018/19 El Ni?o event. Based on multiple reanalysis data sets, the space-time evolution and triggering mechanism for the unusual second-year warming in late 2019, after the 2018/19 El Ni?o event, are investigated in the tropical Pacific. After a short decaying period associated with the 2018/19 El Ni?o condition, positive sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) re-intensified in the eastern equatorial Pacific in late 2019. Compared with the composite pattern of El Ni?o in the following year, two key differences are evident in the evolution of SSTAs in 2019. First, is the persistence of the surface warming over the central equatorial Pacific in May, and second, is the re-intensification of the positive SSTAs over the eastern equatorial Pacific in September. Observational results suggest that the re-intensification of anomalous westerly winds over the western and central Pacific, induced remotely by an extreme Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event, acted as a triggering mechanism for the second-year warming in late 2019. That is, the IOD-related cold SSTAs in the eastern Indian Ocean established and sustained anomalous surface westerly winds over the western equatorial Pacific, which induced downwelling Kelvin waves propagating eastward along the equator. At the same time, the subsurface ocean provided plenty of warm water in the western and central equatorial Pacific. Mixed-layer heat budget analyses further confirm that positive zonal advection, induced by the anomalous westerly winds, and thermocline feedback played important roles in leading to the second-year warming in late 2019. This study provides new insights into the processes responsible for the diversity of El Ni?o evolution, which is important for improving the physical understanding and seasonal prediction of El Ni?o events.     

Seasonal Phase-Locking of Peak Events in the Eastern Indian Ocean

The sea surface temperature （SST） anomaly of the eastern Indian Ocean （EIO） exhibits cold anomalies in the boreal summer or fall during E1 Nino development years and warm anomalies in winter or spring following the E1 Nino events. There also tend to be warm anomalies in the boreal summer or fall during La Nina development years and cold anomalies in winter or spring following the La Nina events. The seasonal phase-locking of SST change in the EIO associated with E1 Nino/Southern Oscillation is linked to the variability of convection over the maritime continent, which induces an atmospheric Rossby wave over the EIO. Local air-sea interaction exerts different effects on SST anomalies, depending on the relationship between the Rossby wave and the mean flow related to the seasonal migration of the buffer zone, which shifts across the equator between summer and winter. The summer cold events start with cooling in the Timor Sea, together with increasing easterly flow along the equator. Negative SST anomalies develop near Sumatra, through the interaction between the atmospheric Rossby wave and the underneath sea surface. These SST anomalies are also contributed to by the increased upwelling of the mixed layer and the equatorward temperature advection in the boreal fall. As the buffer zone shifts across the equator towards boreal winter, the anomalous easterly flow tends to weaken the mean flow near the equator, and the EIO SST increases due to the reduction of latent heat flux from the sea surface. As a result, wintertime SST anomalies appear with a uniform and nearly basin-wide pattern beneath the easterly anomalies. These SST anomalies are also caused by the increase in solar radiation associated with the anticyclonic atmospheric Rossby wave over the EIO. Similarly, the physical processes of the summer warm events, which are followed by wintertime cold SST anomalies, can be explained by the changes in atmospheric and oceanic fields with opposite signs to those anomalies described above.