Interannual and long-term variability of Indian summer monsoon rainfall

Analysis of summer monsoon (June to September) rainfall series of 29 subdivisions based on a fixed number of raingauges (306 stations) has been made for the 108-year period 1871–1978 for interannual and long-term variability of the rainfall. Statistical tests show that the rainfall series of 29 sub-divisions are homogeneous, Gaussian-distributed and do not contain any persistence. The highest and the lowest normal rainfall of 284 and 26 cm are observed over coastal Karnataka and west Rajasthan sub-divisions respectively. The interannual variability (range) varies over different sub-divisions, the lowest being 55 and the highest 231% of the normal rainfall, for south Assam and Saurashtra and Kutch sub-divisions respectively. High spatial coherency is observed between neighbouring sub-divisions; northeast region and northern west and peninsular Indian sub-divisions show oppositic correlation tendency. Significant change in mean rainfall of six sub-divisions is noticed. Correlogram and spectrum analysis show the presence of 14-year and QBO cycles in a few sub-divisional rainfall series.     

The vorticity and angular momentum budgets of Asian summer monsoon

The study delineates the vorticity and angular momentum balances of Asian summer monsoon during the evolution and established phases. It also elucidates the differences between these balances in the National Centre for Environmental Prediction/National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (NCMRWF) analysis fields. The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for a 40 year period (1958-97) and the NCMRWF analysis for a three year (1994-96) period are made use of for the purpose. The time mean summer monsoon circulation is bifurcated into stable mean and transient eddy components and the mean component is elucidated. The generation of vorticity due to stretching of isobars balances most of the vorticity transported out of the monsoon domain during the evolution period. However, during the established period, the transportation by the relative and planetary vorticity components exceeds the generation due to stretching. The effective balancing mechanism is provided by vorticity generation due to sub-grid scale processes. The flux convergence of omega and relative momenta over the monsoon domain is effectively balanced by pressure torque during the evolution and established phases. Nevertheless, the balance is stronger during the established period due to the increase in the strength of circulation. Both the NCMRWF and NCEP fields indicate the mean features related to vorticity and angular momentum budgets realistically. Apart from the oceanic bias (strong circulation over oceans rather than continents), the summer monsoon circulation indicated by the NCEP is feeble compared to NCMRWF. The significant terms in the large-scale budgets of vorticity and angular momentum enunciate this aspect     

Meteorological fields variability over the Indian seas in pre and summer monsoon months during extreme monsoon seasons

In this study, the possible linkage between summer monsoon rainfall over India and surface meteorological fields (basic fields and heat budget components) over monsoon region (30‡E-120‡E, 30‡S30‡N) during the pre-monsoon month of May and summer monsoon season (June to September) are examined. For this purpose, monthly surface meteorological fields anomaly are analyzed for 42 years (1958-1999) using reanalysis data of NCEP/NCAR (National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research). The statistical significance of the anomaly (difference) between the surplus and deficient monsoon years in the surface meteorological fields are also examined by Student’s t-test at 95% confidence level. Significant negative anomalies of mean sea level pressure are observed over India, Arabian Sea and Arabian Peninsular in the pre-monsoon month of May and monsoon season. Significant positive anomalies in the zonal and meridional wind (at 2 m) in the month of May are observed in the west Arabian Sea off Somali coast and for monsoon season it is in the central Arabian Sea that extends up to Somalia. Significant positive anomalies of the surface temperature and air temperature (at 2 m) in the month of May are observed over north India and adjoining Pakistan and Afghanistan region. During monsoon season this region is replaced by significant negative anomalies. In the month of May, significant positive anomalies of cloud amount are observed over Somali coast, north Bay of Bengal and adjoining West Bengal and Bangladesh. During monsoon season, cloud amount shows positive anomalies over NW India and north Arabian Sea. There is overall reduction in the incoming shortwave radiation flux during surplus monsoon years. A higher magnitude of latent heat flux is also found in surplus monsoon years for the month of May as well as the monsoon season. The significant positive anomaly of latent heat flux in May, observed over southwest Arabian Sea, may be considered as an advance indicator of the possible behavior of the subsequent monsoon season. The distribution of net heat flux is predominantly negative over eastern Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. Anomaly between the two extreme monsoon years in post 1980 (i.e., 1988 and 1987) shows that shortwave flux, latent heat flux and net heat flux indicate reversal in sign, particularly in south Indian Ocean. Variations of the heat budget components over four smaller sectors of Indian seas, namely Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and west Indian Ocean and east Indian Ocean show that a small sector of Arabian Sea is most dominant during May and other sectors showing reversal in sign of latent heat flux during monsoon season.     

Large-scale interannual variation of the summer monsoon over India and its empirical prediction

Large-scale interannual variability of the northern summer southwest monsoon over India is studied by examining its variation in the dry area during the period 1871–1984. On the mean summer monsoon rainfall (June to September total) chart the 800 mm isohyet divides the country into two nearly equal halves, named as dry area (monsoon rainfall less than 800 mm) and wet area (monsoon rainfall greater than 800 mm). The dry area/wet area shows large variations from one year to another, and is considered as an index for assessing the large-scale performance of the Indian summer monsoon. Statistical and fluctuation characteristics of the summer monsoon dry area (SMDA) are reported. To identify possible causes of variation in the Indian summer monsoon, the correlation between the summer monsoon dry area and eleven regional/global circulation parameters is examined. The northern hemisphere surface air temperature, zonal/hemispheric/global surface air and upper air temperatures, Southern Oscillation, Quasi-biennial oscillation of the equatorial lower stratosphere, April 500-mb ridge along 75°E over India, the Indian surface air temperature and the Bombay sea level pressure showed significant correlation. A new predictor parameter that is preceding year mean monsoon rainfall of a few selected stations over India has been suggested in the present study. The stations have been selected by applying the objective technique ‘selecting a subset of few gauges whose mean monsoon rainfall of the preceding year has shown the highest correlation coefficient (CC) with the SMDA’. Bankura (Gangetic West Bengal), Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) and Anupgarh (West Rajasthan) entered the selection showing a CC of 0.724. Using a dependent sample of 1951–1980 a predictive model (multiple CC = 0.745) has also been developed for the SMDA with preceding year mean monsoon rainfall of the three selected stations and the sea level pressure tendency at Darwin from Jan–Feb to Mar–May as independent parameters.     

Interannual variability of summer monsoon rainfall over Myanmar

Observed summer (May–October) rainfall in Myanmar for the period 1981–2010 was used to investigate the interannual variability of summer monsoon rainfall over Myanmar. Empirical orthogonal function, the sequential Mann-Kendall test, power spectrum analysis, and singular value decomposition (SVD) were deployed in the study. Results from spectral analysis showed that the variability of rainfall over Myanmar exhibits a 2- to 6-year cycle. An abrupt change in rainfall over the country was noted in 1992. There was a notable increasing rainfall trend from 1989. After the sudden change, the mean rainfall increased by 36.1 mm, compared with the mean rainfall before the sudden change, and was associated with a rise in temperature of about 0.2 °C. An increase in heavy rainfall days was observed from the early 1990s to 2010. IOD and ENSO play an important role in the interannual variability of the summer rainfall over Myanmar. The covariability between rainfall over Myanmar and Indian Ocean SST generally suggests that a positive IOD mode is associated with suppressed rainfall in the central and northern parts of Myanmar. During a negative IOD mode, nearly the whole Myanmar experiences enhanced rainfall, which is associated with devastating socioeconomic impacts. The covariability between the rainfall over Myanmar and the sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean in the first and second SVD modes was dominated by warming in the east and central Pacific—an El Niño-like pattern—resulting in dry conditions in central Myanmar.     

Interannual and long-term variability of the summer monsoon and its possible link with northern hemispheric surface air temperature

Some statistical properties of the summer monsoon seasonal rainfall for India during the last 100 years (1881–1980) are presented. The most recent decade of 1971–1980 shows the lowest value of standard-decadal average monsoon rainfall (86.40 cm) and is also characterised by the second highest value of coefficient of variation in monsoon rainfall (12.4 %). The combined last two standard-decadal period of 1961–1980 was the period of the largest coefficient of variation and the lowest average monsoon rainfall for India. The possible influence of global climatic variability on the performance of the monsoon is also examined. Analyses of correlation coefficient show that a statistically significant positive relationship with a time-lag of about six months exists between monsoon rainfall and northern hemispheric surface air temperature. A cooler northern hemisphere during January/February leads to a poor monsoon. All the major drought years during the last 3 decades had much cooler January/February periods over the northern hemisphere—1972 having the coldest January/February with a temperature departure of −0.94°C and the most disastrous monsoon failure.     

Characteristics of certain surface meteorological parameters in relation to the interannual variability of Indian summer monsoon

With an objective to understand the influence of surface marine meteorological parameters in relation to the extreme monsoon activity over the Indian sub-continent leading to flood/drought, a detailed analysis of the sea level pressure over the Southern Hemisphere and various surface meteorological parameters over the Indian seas is carried out. The present study using the long term data sets (Southern Hemispheric Sea Level Pressure Analysis; Comprehensive Ocean Atmospheric Data Set over the Indian Seas; Surface Station Climatology Data) clearly indicates that the sea surface temperature changes over the south eastern Pacific (El Ninõ/La Niña) have only a moderate impact (not exceeding 50% reliability) on the Indian summer monsoon activity. On the other hand, the sea level pressure anomaly (SOI) over Australia and the south Pacific has a reasonably high degree of significance (more than 70%) with the monsoon activity over India. However, these two parameters (SLP and SST) do not show any significant variability over the Indian seas in relation to the summer monsoon activity. Over the Indian seas, the parameters which are mainly associated with the convective activity such as cloud cover, relative humidity and the surface wind were found to have a strong association with the extreme monsoon activity (flood/drought) and thus the net oceanic heat loss over the Indian seas provides a strong positive feed-back for the monsoon activity over India.     

Inter-annual variability of summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa (India) in relation to cyclonic disturbances

The summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa, a state on the eastern coast of India, is more significantly related than Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) to the cyclonic disturbances developing over the Bay of Bengal. Orissa experiences floods and droughts very often due to variation in the characteristics of these disturbances. Hence, an attempt was made to find out the inter-annual variability in the rainfall over Orissa and the frequencies of different categories of cyclonic disturbances affecting Orissa during monsoon season (June–September). For this purpose, different statistical characteristics, such as mean, coefficient of variation, trends and periodicities in the rainfall and the frequencies of different categories of cyclonic disturbances affecting Orissa, were analysed from 100 years (1901–2000) of data. The basic objective of the study was to find out the contribution of inter-annual variability in the frequency of cyclonic disturbances to the inter-annual variability of monsoon rainfall over Orissa. The relationship between summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa and the frequency of cyclonic disturbances affecting Orissa shows temporal variation. The correlation between them has significantly decreased since the 1950s. The variation in their relationship is mainly due to the variation in the frequency of cyclonic disturbances affecting Orissa. The variability of both rainfall and total cyclonic disturbances has been above normal since the 1960s, leading to more floods and droughts over Orissa during recent years. The inter-annual variability of seasonal rainfall over Orissa and the frequency of cyclonic disturbances affecting Orissa during monsoon season show a quasi-biennial oscillation period of 2–2.8 years. There is least impact of El Nino southern oscillation (ENSO) on inter-annual variability of both the seasonal rainfall over Orissa and the frequencies of monsoon depressions/total cyclonic disturbances affecting Orissa.     

ECMWF和NCEP再分析资料在青藏高原高度场变化中的对比分析

利用ECMWF和NCEP/NCAR北半球逐月平均的600 hPa、500 hPa和200 hPa高度场再分析资料,对高原地区高度场流型及量值进行对比研究.结果表明:二者在不同的再分析资料中具有一定的相似性,但仍存在着明显的区别.高度场流型的区别由低层向高层依次减小,600hPa高度场除冬季的流型基本一致外,其余三季的流...     

Seasonal prediction of summer monsoon rainfall over cluster regions of India

Shared nearest neighbour (SNN) cluster algorithm has been applied to seasonal (June–September) rainfall departures over 30 sub-divisions of India to identify the contiguous homogeneous cluster regions over India. Five cluster regions are identified. Rainfall departure series for these cluster regions are prepared by area weighted average rainfall departures over respective sub-divisions in each cluster. The interannual and decadal variability in rainfall departures over five cluster regions is discussed. In order to consider the combined effect of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Southern Oscillation (SO), an index called effective strength index (ESI) has been defined. It has been observed that the circulation is drastically different in positive and negative phases of ESI-tendency from January to April. Hence, for each phase of ESI-tendency (positive and negative), separate prediction models have been developed for predicting summer monsoon rainfall over identified clusters. The performance of these models have been tested and found to be encouraging.     

Spatio-temporal variability of summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa in relation to low pressure systems

The summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa occurs mostly due to low pressure systems (LPS) developing over the Bay of Bengal and moving along the monsoon trough. A study is hence undertaken to find out characteristic features of the relationship between LPS over different regions and rain-fall over Orissa during the summer monsoon season (June-September). For this purpose, rainfall and rainy days over 31 selected stations in Orissa and LPS days over Orissa and adjoining land and sea regions during different monsoon months and the season as a whole over a period of 20 years (1980-1999) are analysed. The principal objective of this study is to find out the role of LPS on spatial and temporal variability of summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa. The rainfall has been significantly less than normal over most parts of Orissa except the eastern side of Eastern Ghats during July and hence during the season as a whole due to a significantly less number of LPS days over northwest Bay in July over the period of 1980-1999. The seasonal rainfall shows higher interannual variation (increase in coefficient of variation by about 5%) during 1980-1999 than that during 1901-1990 over most parts of Orissa except northeast Orissa. Most parts of Orissa, especially the region extending from central part of coastal Orissa to western Orissa (central zone) and western side of the Eastern Ghats get more seasonal monsoon rainfall with the development and persistence of LPS over northwest Bay and their subsequent movement and persistence over Orissa. The north Orissa adjoining central zone also gets more seasonal rainfall with development and persistence of LPS over northwest Bay. While the seasonal rainfall over the western side of the Eastern Ghats is adversely affected due to increase in LPS days over west central Bay, Jharkhand and Bangladesh, that over the eastern side of the Eastern Ghats is adversely affected due to increase in LPS days over all the regions to the north of Orissa. There are significant decreasing trends in rainfall and number of rainy days over some parts of southwest Orissa during June and decreasing trends in rainy days over some parts of north interior Orissa and central part of coastal Orissa during July over the period of 1980-1999     

NCEP/NCAR再分析气温在南极中山站-Dome A考察断面的适用性研究

以东南极冰盖边缘地带LGB69、冰盖内陆Eagle、冰盖顶点Dome A自动气象站2005—2006年记录的日平均气温为基础,辅以南极大陆边缘中山站2005年的连续气温资料,根据4个站点的海拔、气温、气压和地形,选择最接近气象站观测点的气压层,通过改进的9格点反距离加权内插法,分析NCEP/NCAR再分析气温在该断面的适用性.结果表明:NCEP/NCAR再分析气温与中山站、LGB69站、Eagle站和Dome A站实际观测值之间的相关系数分别高达0.624、0.648、0.744和0.705(p0.001,n≥365),能够反映本地区气温的年变化和季节变化.但与实测值相比,再分析资料具有气温普遍偏高、年温差和标准偏差偏小、春夏季适用性强而秋冬季适用性差等特点.此外,从南极冰盖边缘至内陆,再分析气温误差有增大的趋势.     

A synoptic-climatic study of the onset of southwest monsoon over Mumbai

Surface and upper air synoptic features prevailing at the time of onset of southwest monsoon over Mumbai have been examined for a period of 50 years from 1947 to 1996. These synoptic situations have been found to fall under three broad categories. The study shows that on about 66% of the occasions, the onset of monsoon over Mumbai is caused by low pressure area forming over southeast and east central Arabian Sea as they move northwards, while on 28% of the occasions, the onset is due to the low pressure systems forming over northwest/head Bay of Bengal and their movement towards northwest/west northwest. Based on the findings of the study and the climatological aspects, a criterion for declaring onset over Mumbai has been suggested.     

Intraseasonal oscillations and interannual variability of surface winds over the Indian monsoon region

The role of intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) in modulating synoptic and interannual variations of surface winds over the Indian monsoon region is studied using daily averaged National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalyses for the period 1987–1996. Two dominant ISOs are found in all years, with a period between 30–60 days and 10–20 days respectively. Although the ISOs themselves explain only about 10–25% of the daily variance, the spatial structure of variance of the ISOs is found to be nearly identical to that of high frequency activity (synoptic disturbances), indicating a significant control by the ISOs in determining the synoptic variations. Zonal and meridional propagation characteristics of the two modes and their interannual variability are studied in detail. The synoptic structure of the 30–60 day mode is similar in all years and is shown to be intimately related to the strong (‘active’) or weak (‘break’) phases of the Indian summer monsoon circulation. The peak (trough) phase of the mode in the north Bay of Bengal corresponds to the ‘active’ (‘break’) phase of monsoon strengthening (weakening) the entire large scale monsoon circulation. The ISOs modulate synoptic activity through the intensification or weakening of the large scale monsoon flow (monsoon trough). The peak wind anomalies associated with these ISOs could be as large as 30% of the seasonal mean winds in many regions. The vorticity pattern associated with the 30–60 day mode has a bi-modal meridional structure similar to the one associated with the seasonal mean winds but with a smaller meridional scale. The spatial structure of the 30–60 day mode is consistent with fluctuations of the tropical convergence zone (TCZ) between one continental and an equatorial Indian Ocean position. The 10–20 day mode has maximum amplitude in the north Bay of Bengal, where it is comparable to that of the 30–60 day mode. Elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, this mode is almost always weaker than the 30–60 day mode. In the Bay of Bengal region, the wind curl anomalies associated with the peak phases of the ISOs could be as large as 50% of the seasonal mean wind curl. Hence, ISOs in this region could drive significant ISOs in the ocean and might influence the seasonal mean currents in the Bay. On the interannual time scale, the NCEP/NCAR reanalysed wind stress is compared with the Florida State University monthly mean stress. The seasonal mean stress as well as interannual standard deviation of monthly stress from the two analyses agree well, indicating absence of any serious systematic bias in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysed winds. It is also found that the composite structure of the 30–60 day mode is strikingly similar to the dominant mode of interannual variability of the seasonal mean winds indicating a strong link between the ISOs and the seasonal mean. The ISO influences the seasonal mean and its interannual variability either through increased/decreased residence time of the TCZ in the continental position or through occurrence of stronger/weaker active/break spells. Thus, the ISOs seem to modulate all variability in this region from synoptic to interannual scales.     

Performance of general circulation models and their ensembles for the prediction of drought indices over India during summer monsoon

The drought during the months of June to September (JJAS) results in significant deficiency in the annual rainfall and affects the hydrological planning, disaster management, and the agriculture sector of India. Advance information on drought characteristics over the space may help in risk assessment over the country. This issue motivated the present study which deals with the prediction of drought during JJAS through standardized precipitation index (SPI) using nine general circulation models (GCM) product. Among these GCMs, three are the atmospheric and six are atmosphere–ocean coupled models. The performance of these GCM’s predicted SPI is examined against the observed SPI for the time period of 1982–2010. After a rigorous analysis, it can be concluded that the skill of prediction by GCM is not satisfactory, whereas the ability of the coupled models is better than the atmospheric models. An attempt has been made to improve the accuracy of predicted SPI using two different multi-model ensemble (MME) schemes, viz., arithmetic mean and weighted mean using singular value decomposition-based multiple linear regressions (SVD-MLR) of GCMs. It is found that among these MME techniques, SVD-MLR-based MME has more skill as compared to simple MME as well as individual GCMs.     

Interannual variability of monsoons in Malaysia and its relationship with ENSO

Interannual variations of the monsoons have been studied utilising homogeneous rainfall records of 41 years (1951–1991) from Malaysia and upper air data of stations in Asia, Australia and Western Pacific. Sources of upper air data are U.S. Department of Commerce and Kuala Lumpur Northern Winter Monsoon Activity Centre. Extreme wet and dry years have been identified and the influence of ENSO on Malaysian annual rainfall has been discussed. Influence of ENSO on the performance of northern summer and winter monsoons has also been studied from Malaysian rainfall data. Further, regional circulation patterns associated with El Nino and La Nina years have also been identified. No linear trend has been found in the annual rainfall of 16 stations in Malaysia. Most El Nino years are associated with below median and La Nina years with above median rainfall at most stations in Malaysia. ENSO has greater influence over East Malaysia than peninsular Malaysia. Interannual variability of rainfall with reference to ENSO conditions has been discussed in details. Also, circulation features have been identified to foresee El Nino/La Nina events.     

Harmonic analysis of summer mean wind at 200 mbar level during contrasting monsoon years over India

Summer (June–August) mean zonal and meridional wind components at 200 mbar level are subjected to harmonic analysis for the years 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1979. It is found that the small scale disturbances are intense during normal monsoon years. The westerlies in the belt 10°S to 30°S are stronger during drought years. During normal monsoon years (1970, 1971) the northward transport of westerly momentum by wave number 1 at 19.6°N is large as compared to drought years (1972, 1979). The transport of westerly momentum by standing eddies is northward for all the years between 5°S and 28.7°N but large during the normal monsoon years.     

Applications of satellite data in the study of monsoon variability

This paper discusses the use of satellite data for studying climate change, with particular emphasis on the inter-annual variability of the Indian southwest monsoon. Precipitation estimates made from INSAT-1B radiance data are shown to bring out the variations that occurred in the monsoon rainfall of 1987 and 1988. Outgoing Longwave Radiation derived from INSAT-1B shows good correspondence with precipitation patterns.     

Impact of modification of initial cyclonic structure on the prediction of a cyclone over the Arabian Sea

Most tropical cyclones have very few observations in their vicinity. Hence either they go undetected in standard analyses or are analyzed very poorly, with ill defined centres and locations. Such initial errors obviously have major impact on the forecast of cyclone tracks using numerical models. One way of overcoming the above difficulty is to remove the weak initial vortex and replace it with a synthetic vortex (with the correct size, intensity and location) in the initial analysis. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of introducing NCAR–AFWA synthetic vortex scheme in the regional model MM5 on the simulation of a tropical cyclone formed over the Arabian Sea during November 2003. Two sets of numerical experiments are conducted in this study. While the first set utilizes the NCEP reanalysis as the initial and lateral boundary conditions, the second set utilizes the NCAR–AFWA synthetic vortex scheme. The results of the two sets of MM5 simulations are compared with one another as well as with the observations and the NCEP reanalysis. It is found that inclusion of the synthetic vortex has resulted in improvements in the simulation of wind asymmetries, warm temperature anomalies, stronger vertical velocity fields and consequently in the overall structure of the tropical cyclone. The time series of the minimum sea level pressure and maximum wind speed reveal that the model simulations are closer to observations when synthetic vortex was introduced in the model. The central minimum pressure reduces by 17 hPa while the maximum wind speed associated with the tropical cyclone enhances by 17 m s ⁻¹ with the introduction of the synthetic vortex. While the lowest central pressure estimated from the satellite image is 988 hPa, the corresponding value in the synthetic vortex simulated cyclone is 993 hPa. Improvements in the overall structure and initial location of the center of the system have contributed to considerable reduction in the vector track prediction errors ie. 642 km in 24 h, 788 km in 48 h and 1145 km in 72 h. Further, simulation with the synthetic vortex shows realistic spatial distribution of the precipitation associated with the tropical cyclone.