A study of mean boundary-layer structures over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal during active and break monsoon periods

Observations from research ships which took part in the Indo-Soviet Monsoon Experiment of 1977 (MONSOON 77) and the International Monsoon Experiments (MONEX 79) over the central Arabian Sea and the north central Bay of Bengal were analyzed to study the mean wind and temperature structure of the monsoon boundary layer during active and break conditions. Mean profiles of wind speed and direction along with virtual potential temperature obtained by averaging data from several research ships during 1977 and 1979 indicate that onset conditions were associated with substantial increases in wind speed over the Arabian Sea and a shift to strong southwest flow. Monsoon onset was also characterized by near-neutral to slightly unstable temperature profiles in the lowest kilometer. Break conditions in 1977 in which the monsoon trough moved northward and substantial (5 mb) pressure rises were noted over the Arabian Sea show wind speeds typically decreasing from approximately 18 m s^–1 during active conditions to roughly 8 m s ^–1. Temperature profiles during break conditions are similar to those observed in pre-monsoon conditions in that the boundary layer is observed to be generally much more stable up to 900 mb. Above 900 mb, profiles of virtual potential temperature show little variation.Analysis of latent and sensible heat fluxes during June 1977 calculated by the bulk aerodynamic method indicates values of latent heat flux during active conditions to be roughly two to three times larger than those during break conditions. Sensible heat flux shows an increase from approximately 20 to 80 W m ^–1 during the onset of the monsoon. Surface fluxes of water vapor indicate the importance of water vapor transport over the ship observation region in the central Arabian Sea during active conditions. Onset of the monsoon over the Arabian Sea is accompanied by an increase in the surface moisture flux by a factor of about two. Time histories of precipitable water show decreases of approximately 15% from active to break periods.     

Aircraft and ship observations of the mean structure of the marine boundary layer over the Arabian Sea during MONEX 79

Analysis of the mean wind, equivalent potential temperature and virtual potential temperature profiles observed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Electra aircraft and obtained from dropwindsondes and ship-launched radiosondes were made in conjunction with synoptic observations to study the structure of the monsoon boundary layer over the Arabian Sea during MONEX 79. Comparison of mean profiles indicates the monsoon boundary layer to be much different from the trade wind boundary layer. Results confirm the existence of a boundary-layer jet known as East African or Somali Jet. Regions of multiple cloud layers at roughly the height of the capping inversion layer were associated with the jet. Regions in which a more well-mixed layer was observed showed a jet structure depressed in height. A free-jet surface-layer model appears to describe the mean wind structure of this jet observed during the present study and by others. An approximate balance of forces was found in the monsoon boundary layer between friction, advective acceleration, Coriolis and pressure gradient forces. Friction and advective acceleration terms were significant in the lower levels of the boundary layer. Forces in a typical trade wind boundary layer were found to be approximately one order of magnitude smaller than those observed in the monsoon boundary layer.     

Simulation of monsoon boundary-layer processes using a regional scale nested grid model

A nested grid regional model with a high vertical resolution in the atmospheric boundary layer is used to simulate various atmospheric processes during an active monsoon period. A turbulence kinetic energy closure scheme is used to predict the boundary-layer structure. Model predictions indicate different structures of the boundary layer over land and oceans, as observed. Significant diurnal variation in boundary-layer structure and associated processes is predicted over land and negligible variations over oceans. The Somali jet over the Arabian Sea is well predicted. Location of the predicted monsoon depression and the associated rainfall are in good agreement with the observations. Also, predicted rainfall and its spatial distribution along the west coast of India are in good agreement with the observations.     

A study on the variability of atmospheric and oceanic processes over the Arabian Sea during contrasting monsoons

Summary The atmospheric and oceanic conditions associated with the southwest monsoon during the contrasting monsoon years of 2002 and 2003 over the Arabian Sea have been analyzed in the present study. Early onset of southwesterlies and reduced net heat gain due to low solar radiation were responsible for low sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) over the Arabian Sea during 2002 pre-monsoon (particularly in May). Conversely, light winds and an increased net heat gain set up the pre-monsoon warming in 2003. The development and intensification of deep convection over a large area of the Arabian Sea prior to the onset of the monsoon was observed during 2003, but was absent in 2002. Weak cross equatorial flow and a weak low level jet over the Arabian Sea reduced moisture transport towards the Indian subcontinent in July 2002. This scenario helped to contribute to a prolonged break in monsoon conditions during July. However, no such break in conditions occurred during July 2003. In 2002, the summer monsoon cooling of the Arabian Sea occurred well before July, whereas in 2003 cooling occurred during July. Estimates of wind driven Ekman (horizontal) and vertical transports showed maximum values in the month of June (July) in 2002 (2003). These estimates clearly show the importance of horizontal and vertical advection in the summer cooling of the Arabian Sea. During the southwest monsoon period, the Arabian Sea was warmer in 2003 than in 2002. Late onset of the southwesterlies in June, late cooling of the Arabian Sea in July, and downwelling Rossby wave propagation were responsible for the warm SSTs in 2003. Weak wind stress curl in July dampened the westward propagating sea surface height anomaly signals (Rossby waves) before they reached the western Arabian Sea in 2002, whereas, in 2003 strong wind stress curl enhanced Rossby wave propagation. During the summer monsoon period, subsurface temperatures in the south central Arabian Sea were warmer in 2003 than in 2002, particularly in July and August. Strong Ekman convergence, solar penetration, and downwelling (downward velocities) are responsible for the enhanced subsurface warming in 2003.     

Dependence of Indian monsoon rainfall on moisture fluxes across the Arabian Sea and the impact of coupled model sea surface temperature biases

The Arabian Sea is an important moisture source for Indian monsoon rainfall. The skill of climate models in simulating the monsoon and its variability varies widely, while Arabian Sea cold sea surface temperature (SST) biases are common in coupled models and may therefore influence the monsoon and its sensitivity to climate change. We examine the relationship between monsoon rainfall, moisture fluxes and Arabian Sea SST in observations and climate model simulations. Observational analysis shows strong monsoons depend on moisture fluxes across the Arabian Sea, however detecting consistent signals with contemporaneous summer SST anomalies is complicated in the observed system by air/sea coupling and large-scale induced variability such as the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation feeding back onto the monsoon through development of the Somali Jet. Comparison of HadGEM3 coupled and atmosphere-only configurations suggests coupled model cold SST biases significantly reduce monsoon rainfall. Idealised atmosphere-only experiments show that the weakened monsoon can be mainly attributed to systematic Arabian Sea cold SST biases during summer and their impact on the monsoon-moisture relationship. The impact of large cold SST biases on atmospheric moisture content over the Arabian Sea, and also the subsequent reduced latent heat release over India, dominates over any enhancement in the land-sea temperature gradient and results in changes to the mean state. We hypothesize that a cold base state will result in underestimation of the impact of larger projected Arabian Sea SST changes in future climate, suggesting that Arabian Sea biases should be a clear target for model development.     

南沙海域近海层大气湍流结构及输送特征研究

本文根据南沙群岛渚碧礁的一次大气湍流观测资料，分析研究南沙海域的湍流热通量输送、方差相似性、风速各分量谱、温度谱及各湍流通量协谱等大气湍流结构和输送特征，并与陆地下垫面上的结果作了比较，得到了一些有关南沙海域大气湍流输送及湍流结构的新认识。     

Microphysical characteristics of monsoon clouds and cloud sublayers as revealed by the MONEX aircraft observations

The summer monsoon atmosphere was subjected to aerial cloud microphysical measurements by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)'s Electra as part of the Arabian Sea component of the Summer Monsoon Experiment (SMONEX). The Particle Measuring System (PMS )'s probes were mounted on these flights. This study documents vertical profiles and concentration counts of aerosols and precipitation size particles for the flights on 20 and 24 June 1979. These flights were selected because the meteorology associated with them was analyzed in detail by several investigators who were interested in the turbulence flux measurements which were unique to these flights. The samples on 20 June were collected mostly underneath clouds except once within a cloud. In contrast, they were gathered exclusively within clouds on 24 June. The observations on these two days were collected in four different locations over the Arabian Sea when organized convection was presented.Results show that the aerosol concentration counts as measured by the ASAS-probe were higher than those expected from measurements in suppressed convective conditions. The ASAS and FSSP readings were nearly constant in the boundary layer. The FSSP readings increased more than ASAS readings with height passing them at elevations greater than 1500 m. Some young clouds with a depth of 1600 m showed maximum updraft values occurring at a certain level (e.g., 1000 m). At this level, a maximum concentration of droplets belonging to a particular size group ( ≈ 15 μm) was found. Thus a positive association was seen between these droplets and the vertical velocity distribution.     

Conditions leading to the onset of the Indian monsoon: A satellite perspective

Summary The summer monsoon onset-2004 over the Kerala Coast (Southern tip of the Indian Peninsula) was monitored in real-time using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)/TMI derived total precipitable water vapor, wind speed and sea surface temperature (SST), National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and QuikScat wind data. The 2004 onset was of a gradual type, with an early start (24 May), followed by slow growth to full strength (10 June). Hence, the unambiguous forecasting of such onsets becomes very difficult. The water vapor build up over the western Arabian Sea is one of the necessary conditions that gives us a lead time of two and half weeks for the onset of monsoon. The strength of the Hadley cell (monitored using NCEP meridional wind), which is associated with a large convective heat source is also used as a predictive parameter with a lead-time of two weeks. The other dynamical conditions considered are the early May propagation of the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) followed by a second MJO, which began in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and the kinetic energy over the South East Arabian Sea, with an early start around 24 May (50 m²/s²) and strengthening around 10 June (80 m²/s²). The setting of large-scale monsoon current using various satellite derived parameters and the distinct features for the year 2004 have been delineated.     

Early-Morning Flow Transition in a Valley in Low-Mountain Terrain Under Clear-Sky Conditions

We investigate the evolution of the early-morning boundary layer in a low-mountain valley in south-western Germany during COPS (convective and orographically induced precipitation study) in summer 2007. The term low-mountain refers to a mountainous region with a relief of gentle slopes and with an absolute altitude that remains under a specified height (usually 1,500 m a.s.l.). A subset of 23 fair weather days from the campaign was selected to study the transition of the boundary-layer flow in the early morning. The typical valley atmosphere in the morning hours was characterized by a stable temperature stratification and a pronounced valley wind system. During the reversal period—called the low wind period—of the valley wind system (duration of 1–2 h), the horizontal flow was very weak and the conditions for free convection were fulfilled close to the ground. Ground-based sodar observations of the vertical wind show enhanced values of upward motion, and the corresponding statistical properties differ from those observed under windless convective conditions over flat terrain. Large-eddy simulations of the boundary-layer transition in the valley were conducted, and statistical properties of the simulated flow agree with the observed quantities. Spatially coherent turbulence structures are present in the temporal as well as in the ensemble mean analysis. Thus, the complex orography induces coherent convective structures at predictable, specific locations during the early-morning low wind situations. These coherent updrafts, found in both the sodar observations and the simulation, lead to a flux counter to the gradient of the stably stratified valley atmosphere and reach up to the heights of the surrounding ridges. Furthermore, the energy balance in the surface layer during the low wind periods is closed. However, it becomes unclosed after the onset of the valley wind. The partition into the sensible and the latent heat fluxes indicates that missing flux components of sensible heat are the main reason for the unclosed energy balance in the considered situations. This result supports previously published investigations on the energy balance closure.     

Effects of mesoscale sea-surface temperature fronts on the marine atmospheric boundary layer

A numerical modelling study is presented focusing on the effects of mesoscale sea-surface temperature (SST) variability on surface fluxes and the marine atmospheric boundary-layer structure. A basic scenario is examined having two regions of SST anomaly with alternating warm/cold or cold/warm water regions. Conditions upstream from the anomaly region have SST values equal to the ambient atmosphere temperature, creating an upstream neutrally stratified boundary layer. Downstream from the anomaly region the SST is also set to the ambient atmosphere value. When the warm anomaly is upstream from the cold anomaly, the downstream boundary layer exhibits a more complex structure because of convective forcing and mixed layer deepening upstream from the cold anomaly. An internal boundary layer forms over the cold anomaly in this case, generating two distinct layers over the downstream region. When the cold anomaly is upstream from the warm anomaly, mixing over the warm anomaly quickly destroys the shallow cold layer, yielding a more uniform downstream boundary-layer vertical structure compared with the warm-to- cold case. Analysis of the momentum budget indicates that turbulent momentum flux divergence dominates the velocity field tendency, with pressure forcing accounting for only about 20% of the changes in momentum. Parameterization of surface fluxes and boundary-layer structure at these scales would be very difficult because of their dependence on subgrid-scale SST spatial order. Simulations of similar flow over smaller scale fronts (<5 km) suggest that small-scale SST variability might be parameterized in mesoscale models by relating the effective heat flux to the strength of the SST variance.     

西南季风爆发前后大理近地层风场及湍流通量的变化特征

利用2008年4~5月大理国家气候观象台近地面层观测系统的梯度、涡动相关通量观测资料,结合背景场环流分析,分析了西南季风爆发前后大理近地面层的风速、风向变化特征、风速廓线和垂直切变变化特征以及动量、感热和潜热通量变化特征。结果显示:西南季风爆发前,大理近地层风向以东南风为主,平均风速较大;风速日变化的双峰型特征较显著,风速的垂直切变大,动量通量数值较大且日变化特征较明显。西南季风爆发后,大理近地层西北风频率显著增加,平均风速减小;风速日变化以单锋型为主,风速垂直切变较前期显著减小,动量通量数值减小而日变化特征较不显著。西南季风开始前后大理地气热量交换都以潜热为主,西南季风开始前一旬期间,潜热通量的逐日变化特点是随时间逐渐减少,感热通量逐渐增大,二者差值逐渐减小;西南季风开始后潜热通量的逐日变化为逐渐增大而感热通量逐渐减少,二者差值逐渐增大。就月平均值的日变化而言,潜热通量峰值变化不大,雨季略低于干季的4月;感热通量4~6月的月平均逐月降低。其原因既与雨季天气的变化有关,也与下垫面状况的改变相联系。     

Boundary-layer modification in wintertime cold-air outbreaks from the Arctic sea ice

During the field experiment ARKTIS 1993 ten cases of boundary-layer modification in wintertime cold-air outbreaks from the Arctic sea ice in the Spitsbergen region were observed by aircraft over a distance ranging from about 50 km over the ice to about 300 km over the water. The modification depends decisively on the initial conditions over the ice, the boundary conditions at the bottom and top of the boundary layer and on the conditions of the large-scale flow. The modification of the bulk boundary-layer characteristics in relation to these conditions is presented.Besides the air-sea temperature contrast, the most important role for the boundary-layer modification is played by the stability on top of the boundary layer and by the divergence of the large-scale flow. According to the high variability of these conditions the observed boundary-layer modifications were very variable ranging from 100 to 300 m thick boundary layers with air temperatures between -32 and -22 °C over the ice to thicknesses between 900 and 2200 m and air temperatures between -15 and -5 °C after 300 km fetch over the open water. In most cases the large-scale flow was anticyclonic and divergent over the ice and changed to cyclonic and convergent over the water and an ice-sea breeze was superimposed on it.The sensible and latent heat fluxes are the dominant terms in the surface energy budget over the open water and ranged between 200 and 700 W m^-2 whereas the net longwave radiation is the dominating term over the ice with the heat fluxes only about 10 W m^-2.     

Relationships between interannual variability in the Arabian Sea and Indian summer monsoon rainfall

Summary The interannual variability of the monthly mean upper layer thickness for the central Arabian Sea (5°N-15° N and 60° E-70° E) from a numerical model of the Indian Ocean during the period 1954–1976 is investigated in relation to Indian monsoon rainfall variability. The variability in the surface structure of the Somali Current in the western Arabian Sea is also briefly discussed. It is found that these fields show a great deal of interannual variability that is correlated with variability in Indian monsoon rainfall. Model upper layer thickness (H) is taken as a surrogate variable for thermocline depth, which is assumed to be correlated with sea surface temperature. In general, during the period 1967 to 1974, which is a period of lower than normal monsoon rainfall, the upper ocean warm water sphere is thicker (deeper thermocline which implies warmer surface water); in contrast, during the period 1954–1966, which is a period of higher than normal monsoon rainfall, the upper warm water sphere is thinner (shallower thermocline which implies cooler surface water). The filtered time series of uppper layer thickness indieates the presence of a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) during the wet monsoon period, but this QBO signal is conspicuously absent during the dry monsoon period.Since model H primarily responds to wind stress curl, the interannual variability of the stress curl is investigated by means of an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The first three EOF modes represent more than 72% of the curl variance. The spatial patterns for these modes exhibit many elements of central Arabian Sea climatology. Features observed include the annual variation in the intensity of the summer monsoon ridge in the Arabian Sea and the annual zonal oscillation of the ridge during pre- and post-monsoon seasons. The time coefficients for the first EOF amplitude indicate the presence of a QBO during the wet monsoon period only, as seen in the ocean upper layer thickness.The variability in the model upper layer thickness is a passive response to variability in the wind field, or more specifically to variability in the Findlater Jet. When the winds are stronger, they drive stronger currents in the ocean and have stronger curl fields associated with them, driving stronger Ekman pumping. They transport more moisture from the southern hemisphere toward the Indian subcontinent, and they also drive a greater evaporative heat flux beneath the Findlater Jet in the Arabian Sea. It has been suggested that variability in the heat content of the Arabian Sea drives variability in Indian monsoon rainfall. The results of this study suggest that the opposite is true, that the northern Arabian Sea responds passively to variability in the monsoon system.With 10 Figures     

THE WARMING MECHANISM IN THE SOUTHERN ARABIAN SEA DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN OCEAN DIPOLE EVENTS

This study aims to explore the relative role of oceanic dynamics and surface heat fluxes in the warming of southern Arabian Sea and southwest Indian Ocean during the development of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events by using National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) daily reanalysis data and Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) monthly mean ocean reanalysis data from 1982 to 2013, based on regression analysis, Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis and combined with a 2? layer dynamic upper-ocean model. The results show that during the initial stage of IOD events, warm downwelling Rossby waves excited by an anomalous anticyclone over the west Indian Peninsula, southwest Indian Ocean and southeast Indian Ocean lead to the warming of the mixed layer by reducing entrainment cooling. An anomalous anticyclone over the west Indian Peninsula weakens the wind over the Arabian Sea and Somali coast, which helps decrease the sea surface heat loss and shallow the surface mixed layer, and also contributes to the sea surface temperature (SST) warming in the southern Arabian Sea by inhibiting entrainment. The weakened winds increase the SST along the Somali coast by inhibiting upwelling and zonal advection. The wind and net sea surface heat flux anomalies are not significant over the southwest Indian Ocean. During the antecedent stage of IOD events, the warming of the southern Arabian Sea is closely connected with the reduction of entrainment cooling caused by the Rossby waves and the weakened wind. With the appearance of an equatorial easterly wind anomaly, the warming of the southwest Indian Ocean is not only driven by weaker entrainment cooling caused by the Rossby waves, but also by the meridional heat transport carried by Ekman flow. The anomalous sea surface heat flux plays a key role to damp the warming of the west pole of the IOD.     

Probing for suitable climatology to estimate the predictability of monsoon onset over Kerala (MOK), India

Inter-annual variability in the onset of monsoon over Kerala (MOK), India, is investigated using daily temperature; mean sea level pressure; winds at 850, 500 and 200 hPa pressure levels; outgoing longwave radiation (OLR); sea surface temperature (SST) and vertically integrated moisture content anomaly with 32 years (1981–2013) observation. The MOK is classified as early, delayed, or normal by considering the mean monsoon onset date over Kerala to be the 1st of June with a standard deviation of 8 days. The objective of the study is to identify the synoptic setup during MOK and comparison with climatology to estimate the predictability of the onset type (early, normal, or delayed) with 5, 10, and 15 days lead time. The study reveals that an enhanced convection observed over the Bay of Bengal during early MOK is found to shift over the Arabian Sea during delayed MOK. An intense high-pressure zone observed over the western south Indian Ocean during early MOK shifts to the east during delayed MOK. Higher tropospheric temperature (TT) over the western Equatorial Ocean during early MOK and lower TT over the Indian subcontinent intensify the land–ocean thermal contrast that leads to early MOK. The sea surface temperature (SST) over the Arabian Sea is observed to be warmer during delayed than early MOK. During early MOK, the source of 850 hPa southwesterly wind shifts to the west equatorial zone while a COL region has been found during delayed MOK at that level. The study further reveals that the wind speed anomaly at the 200-hPa pressure level coincides inversely with the anomaly of tropospheric temperature.     

由非季风区向季风区过渡过程中大气边界层结构的变化分析

利用中国西北中部具有代表性的非季风区、夏季风影响过渡区和季风区的7个高空站的2013年夏季晴天07时、13时、19时（北京时）的大气边界层资料,通过分析大气边界层位温、比湿、风速的垂直结构,发现大气边界层结构及厚度在不同区域的分布特征:稳定边界层厚度、残余层顶高度和对流边界层厚度从非季风区、夏季风影响过渡区至季风区出现阶梯性大幅降低,从非季风区至夏季风影响过渡区,以及从夏季风影响过渡区至季风区,对流边界层厚度降幅依次为25.6%和81.8%,稳定边界层厚度降幅依次为58.3%和41.8%;在稳定边界层条件下,可观察到低空急流的存在,非季风区低空急流出现高度明显高于夏季风影响过渡区和季风区,且非季风区的低空急流风速也明显大于夏季风影响过渡区和季风区。通过分析与大气边界层发展最为密切的陆面热力因素在不同气候区的分布,净辐射值、日地-气温差最大值以及感热通量值在非季风区大于夏季风影响过渡区和季风区,从陆面热力过程为非季风区大气边界层厚度大于夏季风影响过渡区和季风区提供了理论依据。     

南海季风建立前后珠江三角洲的陆气热量交换与热力边界层结构特征

根据动力与热力指标,2004和2005年南海季风建立前后可分成明显的4个阶段——季风建立前的雨期、非雨期;季风建立后的活跃期与非活跃期。对2004和2005年南海季风建立前后的广州番禺综合外场观测资料进行分析,得到了这4个阶段陆气热量交换与热力边界层的主要特征:净辐射与净短波辐射的变化趋势基本一致,净短波辐射与净长波辐射之比为3.49—4.81,净短波辐射是净辐射的主要贡献项,云量与降水是控制净短波辐射与净辐射的直接因素;季风活跃期间午间对流云系对太阳辐射衰减显著,造成了辐射各分量以及热通量的峰值区变窄,量值急剧变小;季风建立前后感热与潜热均是净辐射的主要消耗项,占净辐射的90%以上,潜热明显大于感热,2005年较2004年潜热的分配额有明显的增加,其原因可能与近地层的风速较大,总是维持向上的湿度梯度有关;季风建立前后除季风活跃期外边界层位温结构均具有明显的日变化特征,午间混合层可发展至1070m,而季风活跃期间午间混合层发展受到对流云释放潜热的抑制,导致季风活跃期混合层消失的现象,分析还发现季风建立前后各阶段夜间残余混合层均不明显。分析表明引起陆气能量过程及边界层热力结构差异的关键因素之一是云系与降水,加强边界层过程与降水宏微观过程相互作用的研究是深入认识陆气过程与边界层结构特征的关键。     

Water mass properties and transports in the Arabian Sea from Argo observations

The information acquired from Argo floats such as temperature and salinity profiles is used to study water mass properties in the Arabian Sea from 2002 to 2004. An examination of water mass structure at different locations reveals the presence of high salinity water of marginal seas in the Arabian Sea. During the southwest monsoon season, the impact of the early onset of southwesterlies is noticed in the upper ocean temperature and salinity structure over the Western Arabian Sea (WAS) during 2002. Surface density variations are found to be more during the southwest monsoon season due to strong wind forcing. Argo temperature and salinity profiles showed that the winter cooling and the formation of Arabian Sea High Salinity Water (ASHSW) over the Northern Arabian Sea (NAS) began during the second half of November within the upper 100 m depth. In the NAS, the Persian Gulf Water (PGW) salinity is above 36, as PGW moves towards the south along isopycnal layer of 26.6σ_θ (σ_θ is potential density) salinity decreases. It is observed that the PGW high salinity water is not continuously prominent over the WAS in 2002 and in 2003. In the WAS the 27.2σ_θ isopycnal layer depth, corresponding to Red Sea Water (RSW), did not exactly follow the pattern of isotherms as is seen in the northern and eastern Arabian Sea. The variability related to RSW salinity is due to the underwater currents. The present study also confirms that RSW is prominent in the southeast Arabian Sea at the potential density of 27.2 with a maximum in summer monsoon compared to other seasons. The observed peak in the salinity at 27.2 density level during the spring intermonsoon is due to the influence of winter time spreading of RSW to the south of Socotra in 2002. Westward movement of Argo floats in the region east of Socotra during the winter is evident in both the observations and model studies. Water mass properties change when they move away from their source region due to the consistent horizontal advection. The changes in the water mass properties along the Argo float trajectory are confirmed by comparing with the climatological mean monthly values from the World Ocean Atlas 2001 data set.     

Large-Eddy Simulations of Surface Heterogeneity Effects on the Convective Boundary Layer During the LITFASS-2003 Experiment

We investigate the impact of observed surface heterogeneities during the LITFASS-2003 experiment on the convective boundary layer (CBL). Large-eddy simulations (LES), driven by observed near-surface sensible and latent heat fluxes, were performed for the diurnal cycle and compare well with observations. As in former studies of idealized one- and two-dimensional heterogeneities, secondary circulations developed that are superimposed on the turbulent field and that partly take over the vertical transport of heat and moisture. The secondary circulation patterns vary between local and roll-like structures, depending on the background wind conditions. For higher background wind speeds, the flow feels an effective surface heat-flux pattern that derives from the original pattern by streamwise averaging. This effective pattern generates a roll-like secondary circulation with roll axes along the mean boundary-layer wind direction. Mainly the upstream surface conditions control the secondary circulation pattern, where the fetch increases with increasing background wind speed. Unlike the entrainment flux that appears to be slightly decreased compared to the homogeneously-heated CBL, the vertical flux of sensible heat appears not to be modified in the mixed layer, while the vertical flux of latent heat shows different responses to secondary circulations. The study illustrates that sufficient time averaging and ensemble averaging is required to separate the heterogeneity-induced signals from the raw LES turbulence data. This might be an important reason why experiments over heterogeneous terrain in the past did not give any clear evidence of heterogeneity-induced effects.