Multivariate Objective Analysis of Wind and Height Fields in the Tropics

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A Scheme for Objective Analysis of Wind Field Incorporating Multi-Weighting Functions in the Optimum Interpolation Method

A method of objective analysis scheme having three different weighting functions for different conditions of the wind flow has been developed for the Indian region, two of which are anisotropic and third one is isotropic. Basically Gandin’s Optimum Interpolation method is used. The “effective” distance between a grid point and observation point used for the anisotropic functions, has been applied to calculate weighting functions following Benjamin and Seaman (1985) and objective analyses were made at the 700 hPa level for three consecutive days from 6 July to 8 July 1979. The quantitative evaluation of the objectively analysed fields have been made by computing the R.M.S. errors. Ana-lyses obtained using multi-weighting functions (anisotropic) and those obtained using ordinary circular functions (isotropic-Gandin, 1963) have been compared. Also, the centres of the monsoon depressions obtained by this method have been compared with those of subjective analyses.     

Construction of vertical wind profile from satellite-derived winds for objective analysis of wind field

During summer Monex-79, a variety of observing systems viz. research ships, research aircrafts, constant pres-sure balloons and geostationary satellite etc. were deployed, besides the regular conventional observations The pur-pose of these additional systems was to make the best possible data for the studies on various aspects of monsoon cir-culation. The present study is aimed at the construction of vertical wind profile using cloud motion vectors obtained from GOES (I-O) satellite and to examine whether the constructed wind profiles improves the representation of the monsoon system, flow pattern etc. in the objective analysis. For this purpose, climatological normals of the wind field are considered as the initial guess and the objective analyses of the wind field are made with, first using only data from conventional observations over land areas, subsequently including the constructed winds from cloud motion vectors. These analyses are then compared with the standard analyses of wind field obtained from Quick Look Atlas by T. N. Krishnamurti et al. (1979).It is inferred that satellite estimated mean wind profiles show good agreement with the mean wind profiles of the research ships with RMS errors less than 5 mps below 500 hPa and less than 8 mps above 500 hPa. It is further infer-red that the inclusion of constructed winds shows a positive impact on the objective analysis and improvement is seen to be more marked in the data-sparse region of the Arabian sea. Analyses which include the constructed winds show better agreement with the standard analysis, than the analyses obtained using only conventional winds. Thus, results of our study suggest that the wind profiles constructed using cloud motion vectors are of potential use in objective analysis to depict the major circulation features over the Indian region.     

Use of Surface Observations to Estimate Upper Air Humidity for the Objective Analysis of Relative Humidity over Indian Region

In the present study objective analyses of relative humidity (RH) at surface and at the levels of 850,700 and 500 hPa have been made using Gandin’s (1963) optimum interpolation scheme. As the horizontal resolution of the radiosonde stations is rather inadequate for upper air humidity analysis, a scheme has been developed, following Rasmussen (1982) to estimate the upper air RH from the surface observations like surface RH, present weather and cloud cover. The relative humidities at the levels 850, 700 and 500 hPa were related to the surface observations through three separate regression relations. The RH values at 850, 700 and 500 hPa levels were estimated from the surface RH, cloud coverage and present weather using the above regression relations and subsequently the objective analyses at 00 GMT for the period from 4 July to 8 July 1979, were made using these estimated data along with the observed radiosonde data. Objective analyses were also made for the same period using only the radiosonde data for comparison to study the impact of those estimated data. Root mean square errors were computed for all the five days by interpolating RH at the observing stations from the objectively analysed field and comparing them with the actually observed RH to examine how best the analyses (with and without estimated data) fitted the observations. Lastly they were compared with satellite cloud pictures. This study shows that the estimated upper air RH values have positive impact on the analysis of upper air RH and could be used over radiosonde date sparse region and even over oceanic regions.     

Simulation of heavy rainfall events over Indian monsoon region using WRF-3DVAR data assimilation system

We present the results of the impact of the 3D variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate three heavy rainfall events (25–28 June 2005, 29–31 July 2004, and 7–9 August 2002) over the Indian monsoon region. For each event, two numerical experiments were performed. In the first experiment, namely the control simulation (CNTL), the low-resolution global analyses are used as the initial and boundary conditions of the model. In the second experiment (3DV-ANA), the model integration was carried out by inserting additional observations in the model’s initial conditions using the 3DVAR scheme. The 3DVAR used surface weather stations, buoy, ship, radiosonde/rawinsonde, and satellite (oceanic surface wind, cloud motion wind, and cloud top temperature) observations obtained from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). After the successful inclusion of additional observational data using the 3DVAR data assimilation technique, the resulting reanalysis was able to successfully reproduce the structure of convective organization as well as prominent synoptic features associated with the mid-tropospheric cyclones (MTC). The location and intensity of the MTC were better simulated in the 3DV-ANA as compared to the CNTL. The results demonstrate that the improved initial conditions of the mesoscale model using 3DVAR enhanced the location and amount of rainfall over the Indian monsoon region. Model verification and statistical skill were assessed with the help of available upper-air sounding data. The objective verification further highlighted the efficiency of the data assimilation system. The improvements in the 3DVAR run are uniformly better as compared to the CNTL run for all the three cases. The mesoscale 3DVAR data assimilation system is not operational in the weather forecasting centers in India and a significant finding in this study is that the assimilation of Indian conventional and non-conventional observation datasets into numerical weather forecast models can help improve the simulation accuracy of meso-convective activities over the Indian monsoon region. Results from the control experiments also highlight that weather and regional climate model simulations with coarse analysis have high uncertainty in simulating heavy rain events over the Indian monsoon region and assimilation approaches, such as the 3DVAR can help reduce this uncertainty.     

An index for tropical temperate troughs over southern Africa

Strong cases of the tropical temperate troughs (TTT) that are responsible for the most of the summer rainfall over subtropical southern Africa are analyzed. An index for identifying the TTT is introduced for the first time using anomalies of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and the wind. The TTT is associated with a ridge-trough-ridge wave-like structure in the lower troposphere over southern Africa and the adjoining Indian Ocean. Therefore, the index considers physical processes that occur over southern Africa, adjoining the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to depict the variability of the TTT events. Unusually strong TTT events are identified when the standard deviations of the TTT indices defined by the OLR and wind anomalies in the selected regions are above 1.5 and 0.5 respectively. After applying this criterion and filtering out consecutive events, 55 TTT events are identified during the study period of December–January–February seasons from 1980–1981 to 2009–2010. From the composite analyses of those 55 events, it is found that the TTTs evolve with suppressed (enhanced) convection over the southwest Indian Ocean adjacent to Madagascar (southern Africa). The suppressed convection is, in turn, found to be associated with the enhanced convection around Sumatra in the southeast tropical Indian Ocean. This may explain why more TTT events occur in La Niña years as compared to El Niño years. Time evolution of the canonical TTT event shows that it starts 3 days prior to the mature phase of the event, suggesting possible predictability. After reaching a matured state, the system moves east toward the Indian Ocean and decays within the subsequent couple of days. In addition, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) structure changes over Southern Africa/Madagascar during the TTT event and remains similar to climatology over other regions. The results indicate that the continental part of the ITCZ intensifies prior to the TTT event and then spreads southward following the mid-latitude influence during and after the event.     

Surface weather observations of atmospheric dust over the southwest summer monsoon region

Summary Surface weather observations are analyzed to investigate the temporal and spatial distributions of dust loading associated with the southwest Indian summer monsoon region. The 1979 annual distribution of dust days for the region 10°N-37°N and 35°E-90°E are presented. Five year composites of dust loading for the months May, June and July are derived. Results are analyzed with respect to preferred wind direction and wind speed associated with dust loading, potential source regions and regions of deposition. A case study of the meteorological conditions of a dust outbreak that occurred over the Arabian Peninsula in June of 1979 is given. Rawinsonde temperature observations are analyzed to locate the top of the dust layer over the Rub al Khali desert. The top of the dust layer was found to vary from 400 mb during the summer to 600 mb in the late spring and early fall.With 9 Figures     

The influence of Madden–Julian Oscillation in the genesis of North Indian Ocean tropical cyclones

Cyclonic storms having maximum winds of 34 knots and above that had genesis in north Indian Ocean have been studied with respect to the eastward passage of Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). In the three decades (1979–2008), there were a total of 118 cyclones reported in which 96 formed in the region chosen (0–15^oN, 60^oE–100^oE) for the study. Although the percentage of MJO days inducing cyclogenesis is small, it is found that tropical cyclone genesis preferentially occurred during the convective phase of MJO. This accounted for 44 cyclones of the total 54 cyclones (i.e., 81.5%) formed under MJO amplitude 1 and above. The study has shown that, when the enhanced convection of MJO is over the maritime continent and the adjoining eastern Indian Ocean, it creates the highest favorable environment for cyclogenesis in the Bay of Bengal. During this phase, westerlies at 850 hPa are strong in the equatorial region south of Bay of Bengal creating strong cyclonic vorticity in the lower troposphere along with the low vertical wind shear.     

Intercomparison of the performance of MM5/WRF with and without satellite data assimilation in short-range forecast applications over the Indian region

The present study is conducted to verify the short-range forecasts from mesoscale model version5 (MM5)/weather research and forecasting (WRF) model over the Indian region and to examine the impact of assimilation of quick scatterometer (QSCAT) near surface winds, spectral sensor microwave imager (SSM/I) wind speed and total precipitable water (TPW) on the forecasts by these models using their three-dimensional variational (3D-Var) data assimilation scheme for a 1-month period during July 2006. The control (without satellite data assimilation) as well as 3D-Var sensitivity experiments (with assimilating satellite data) using MM5/WRF were made for 48 h starting daily at 0000 UTC July 2006. The control run is analyzed for the intercomparison of MM5/WRF short-range forecasts and is also used as a baseline for assessing the MM5/WRF 3D-Var satellite data sensitivity experiments. As compared to the observation, the MM5 (WRF) control simulations strengthened (weakened) the cross equatorial flow over southern Arabian sea near peninsular India. The forecasts from MM5 and WRF showed a warm and moist bias at lower and upper levels with a cold bias at the middle level, which shows that the convective schemes of these models may be too active during the simulation. The forecast errors in predicted wind, temperature and humidity at different levels are lesser in WRF as compared to MM5, except the temperature prediction at lower level. The rainfall pattern and prediction skill from day 1 and day 2 forecasts by WRF is superior to MM5. The spatial distribution of forecast impact for wind, temperature, and humidity from 1-month assimilation experiments during July 2006 demonstrated that on average, for 24 and 48-h forecasts, the satellite data improved the MM5/WRF initial condition, so that model errors in predicted meteorological fields got reduced. Among the experiments, MM5/WRF wind speed prediction is most benefited from QSCAT surface wind and SSM/I TPW assimilation while temperature and humidity prediction is mostly improved due to latter. The largest improvement in MM5/WRF rainfall prediction is due to the assimilation of SSM/I TPW. The assimilation of SSM/I wind speed alone in MM5/WRF degraded the humidity and rainfall prediction. In summary the assimilation of satellite data showed similar impact on MM5/WRF prediction; largest improvement due to SSM/I TPW and degradation due to SSM/I wind speed.     

The feasibility of estimating large-scale surface wind fields for the summer MONEX using cloud motion and ship data

Cloud motion data were compared to ship observations over the Indian Ocean during the summer monsoon, 1 May to 31 July 1979, with the objective of using the cloud data for estimating surface wind and ultimately the wind stress on the ocean. The cloud-ship comparison indicated that the cloud motions could be used to estimate surface winds within reasonable accuracy bounds, 2.6 m s^-1 r.m.s. speeds and 22° to 44° r.m.s. directions (22° r.m.s. for winds < 10 m s^-1). A body of statistics is presented which can be used to construct an empirical boundary layer with the eventual goal of producing a stress analysis for the summer MONEX from cloud motion data.     

Impact of assimilation of INSAT-3D retrieved atmospheric motion vectors on short-range forecast of summer monsoon 2014 over the South Asian region

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and its three-dimensional variational data assimilation system are used in this study to assimilate the INSAT-3D, a recently launched Indian geostationary meteorological satellite derived from atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) over the South Asian region during peak Indian summer monsoon month (i.e., July 2014). A total of four experiments were performed daily with and without assimilation of INSAT-3D-derived AMVs and the other AMVs available through Global Telecommunication System (GTS) for the entire month of July 2014. Before assimilating these newly derived INSAT-3D AMVs in the numerical model, a preliminary evaluation of these AMVs is performed with National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) final model analyses. The preliminary validation results show that root-mean-square vector difference (RMSVD) for INSAT-3D AMVs is ～3.95, 6.66, and 5.65 ms^?1 at low, mid, and high levels, respectively, and slightly more RMSVDs are noticed in GTS AMVs (～4.0, 8.01, and 6.43 ms^?1 at low, mid, and high levels, respectively). The assimilation of AMVs has improved the WRF model of produced wind speed, temperature, and moisture analyses as well as subsequent model forecasts over the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Australia, and South Africa. Slightly more improvements are noticed in the experiment where only the INSAT-3D AMVs are assimilated compared to the experiment where only GTS AMVs are assimilated. The results also show improvement in rainfall predictions over the Indian region after AMV assimilation. Overall, the assimilation of INSAT-3D AMVs improved the WRF model short-range predictions over the South Asian region as compared to control experiments.     

The influence of systematic errors on the asian summer monsoon circulation

1. IntroductionThe Asian summer monsoon circulation is a thermally driven circulation, which arisesprimarily from the temperature differences between the warmer continental areas of theNorthern Hemisphere and the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. The complex feedback between the flow field and the heating, especially through the interaction between thelarge--scale flow and moist convection, is yet to be well understood. Nevertheless, this facetensures the prominence of the summer monsoon ci…     

索马里跨赤道气流对南海夏季风爆发的重要作用

通过分析NCEP/NCAR多年再分析资料,清楚地揭露了南海夏季风爆发与索马里跨赤道南风气流建立之间的重要关系.对应南海夏季风爆发,总是已先期在赤道印度洋地区有西风加强和索马里跨赤道南风气流的建立;而且,若南海夏季风爆发偏早(晚),赤道印度洋地区西风的加强和索马里跨赤道南风气流的建立也偏早(晚).可以认为,索马里跨赤道南风气流的稳定建立是南海夏季风爆发的重要物理机制之一,它的建立导致赤道印度洋地区西风的持续加强和向东扩展,并最终在南海地区形成西南气流.     

近期气候预测系统IAP-DecPreS对印度洋偶极子的回报技巧:全场同化和异常场同化的比较

印度洋偶极子（IOD）是热带印度洋年际变率主导模态之一,对于区域乃至全球气候有重要影响。准确预报IOD对于短期气候预测具有重要意义。中国科学院大气物理研究所最近建立了近期气候预测系统IAP-DecPreS,其初始化方案采用“集合最优插值—分析增量更新”（EnOI-IAU）方案,能够同化观测的海洋次表层温度廓线资料。本文分析了IAP-DecPreS季节回报试验对IOD的回报技巧,重点比较了全场同化和异常场同化两种初始化策略下预测系统对IOD的回报技巧。分析表明,8月起报秋季IOD,无论从确定性预报还是概率性预报的角度,基于全场同化的回报试验技巧均高于异常场同化的回报试验。对于5月起报的秋季IOD,基于两种初始化策略的回报试验技巧相当。研究发现,全场同化策略相对于异常场的优势主要源于它提高了对伴随ENSO发生的IOD的预报技巧。ENSO遥强迫触发的热带东印度洋“风—蒸发—SST”正反馈过程是IOD发展和维持的关键。采用全场同化策略的回报结果能够更好地模拟出IOD发展过程中ENSO遥强迫产生的异常降水场和异常风场的空间分布特征;而采用异常场同化策略,模拟的异常降水场和风场偏差较大。导致两种初始化策略预测结果技巧差异的主要原因是,全场同化能够减小模式对热带印度洋气候平均态降水固有的模拟偏差,从而提升了热带印度洋对ENSO遥强迫响应的模拟能力。而异常场同化由于在同化过程中保持了模式固有的气候平均态,因此模拟的热带印度洋对ENSO遥强迫的响应存在与模式自由积分类似的模拟偏差。     

Signature of a southern hemisphere extratropical influence on the summer monsoon over India

The weakening relationship of El Nino with Indian summer monsoon reported in recent years is a major issue to be addressed. The altered relationships of Indian monsoon with various parameters excite to search for other dominant modes of variability that can influence the precipitation pattern. Since the Indian summer monsoon circulation originates in the oceanic region of the southern hemisphere, the present study investigates the association of southern extratropical influence on Indian summer monsoon using rainfall and reanalysis parameters. The effect of Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index during the month of June associated with the onset phase of Indian summer monsoon and that during July–August linked with the active phase of the monsoon were analysed separately for a period from 1951 to 2008. The extra-tropical influence over the monsoon is illustrated by using rainfall, specific humidity, vertical velocity, circulation and moisture transport. The June high SAM index enhances the lower level wind flow during the onset phase of monsoon over Indian sub-continent. The area of significant positive correlation between precipitation and SAM in June also shows enhancement in both ascending motion and specific humidity during the strong phase of June SAM. On the other hand, the June high SAM index adversely affects July–August monsoon over Indian subcontinent. The lower level wind flow weakens due to the high SAM. Enhancement of divergence and reduction in moisture transport results in the Indian monsoon region due to the activity of this high southern annular mode. The effect is more pronounced over the southwest region where the precipitation spell has high activity during the period. Significant correlation exists between SAM and ISMR, even after removing the effect of El Nino. It indicates that the signals of Indian summer monsoon characteristics can be envisaged to a certain extend using the June SAM index.     

印度洋海温异常对西北太平洋台风的影响及机制研究

基于近40 a NCEP/NCAR再分析月平均高度场、风场、涡度场、垂直速度场以及NOAA重构的海面温度（sea surface temperature,SST）资料和美国联合台风预警中心（Joint Typhoon Warning Center, JTWC）热带气旋最佳路径资料,利用合成分析方法,研究了前期春季及同期夏季印度洋海面温度同夏季西北太平洋台风活动的关系。结果表明：1）前期春季印度洋海温异常（sea surface temperature anoma1y,SSTA）尤其是关键区位于赤道偏北印度洋和西南印度洋地区对西北太平洋台风活动具有显著的影响,春季印度洋海温异常偏暖年,后期夏季,110°～180°E的经向垂直环流表现为异常下沉气流,对应风场的低层低频风辐散、高层辐合的形势,这种环流形势使得低层水汽无法向上输送,对流层中层水汽异常偏少,纬向风垂直切变偏大,从而夏季西北太平洋台风频数偏少、强度偏弱,而异常偏冷年份则正好相反。2）春季印度洋异常暖年,西北太平洋副热带高压加强、西伸;而春季印度洋异常冷年,后期夏季西北太平洋副热带高压减弱、东退,这可能是引起夏季西北太平洋台风变化的另一原因。     

Indian summer monsoon rainfall variability in global coupled ocean-atmospheric models

Performance of seven fully coupled models in simulating Indian summer monsoon climatology as well as the inter-annual variability was assessed using multi member 1 month lead hindcasts made by several European climate groups as part of the program called Development of a European multi-model ensemble system for seasonal-to-inter-annual prediction (DEMETER). Dependency of the model simulated Indian summer monsoon rainfall and global sea surface temperatures on model formulation and initial conditions have been studied in detail using the nine ensemble member simulations of the seven different coupled ocean–atmosphere models participated in the DEMETER program. It was found that the skills of the monsoon predictions in these hindcasts are generally positive though they are very modest. Model simulations of India summer monsoon rainfall for the earlier period (1959–1979) are closer to the ‘perfect model’ (attainable) score but, large differences are observed between ‘actual’ skill and ‘perfect model’ skill in the recent period (1980–2001). Spread among the ensemble members are found to be large in simulations of India summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) and Indian ocean dipole mode (IODM), indicating strong dependency of model simulated Indian summer monsoon on initial conditions. Multi-model ensemble performs better than the individual models in simulating ENSO indices, but does not perform better than the individual models in simulating ISMR and IODM. Decreased skill of multi-model ensemble over the region indicates amplification of errors due to existence of similar errors in the individual models. It appears that large biases in predicted SSTs over Indian Ocean region and the not so perfect ENSO-monsoon (IODM-monsoon) tele-connections are some of the possible reasons for such lower than expected skills in the recent period. The low skill of multi-model ensemble, large spread among the ensemble members of individual models and the not so perfect monsoon tele-connection with global SSTs points towards the importance of improving individual models for better simulation of the Indian monsoon.     

A study on drought features of the Indian summer monsoon 2002

In this paper, a diagnostic study is carried out with global analysis data sets to determine how the large scale atmospheric circulation affecting the anomalous drought of the Indian summer monsoon 2002. The daily analysis obtained from National Centre for Environmental Prediction/National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) for the month of July is used to investigate the mean circulation characteristics and the large scale energetics over the Indian monsoon domain. Examination of rainfall revealed that the summer monsoon (JJAS) rainfall of 2002 over India is 22% below normal in which the large deficit of 56% below normal rainfall in July. The recent past drought during summer season of 2004 and 2009 are 12 and 23%, respectively, below normal rainfall. The large deficit of rainfall in 2009 is from the June month with 48% below normal rainfall, where as 2004 drought contributed from July (19%) and August (24%). Another significant facet of the rainfall in July 2002 is lowest ever recorded in the past 138 years (1871–2008). The circulation features illustrated weak low level westerly wind at 850 hPa (Somali Jet) in July during large deficit rainfall years of 1987 and 2002 with a reduction of about 30% when compared with the excess and normal rainfall years of 1988 and 2003. Also, tropical easterly jet at 150 hPa reduced by 15% during the deficit rainfall year of 2002 against the excess rainfall year of 1988. Both the jet streams are responsible for low level convergence and upper level divergence leading to build up moisture and convective activity to sustain the strength of the monsoon circulation. These changes are well reflected in reduction of tropospheric moisture profile considerably. It is found that the maximum number of west pacific cyclonic system during July 2002 is also influenced for large deficit rainfall over India. The dynamic, thermodynamic and energetic clearly show the monsoon break type situation over India in the month of July 2002 resulting less convective activity and the reduction of moisture. The large diabatic heating, flux convergence of heat and moisture over south east equatorial Indian Ocean are also responsible for drought situation in July 2002 over the Indian region.     

GRAPES_MesoV4.0主要技术改进和预报效果检验

针对GRAPES_Meso V3.0存在的降水量偏大、模式运行不稳定、近地面温度预报偏差较大、可同化资料偏少以及分辨率偏低等问题,开展了多方面的改进工作:引入变分质量控制以及探空湿度的偏差订正,实现了GPS/PW资料、FY-2E云导风资料以及无线电掩星资料的同化应用,提高了模式分辨率,引入四阶水平扩散方案,调整了微物理参数化方案与动力框架的耦合方案,完善了地面辐射能量平衡方程以及优化了后处理雷达组合反射率因子的诊断方案,并集成所有改进成果形成新的业务化GRAPES_Meso V4.0。批量试验结果表明:GRAPES_Meso V4.0降水ETS评分普遍提高,同时预报偏差明显降低,月平均降水更接近实况,且能够较好地刻画雨带细节;2 m温度预报偏差有较为显著的改善,大部分地区24 h预报有1~2℃左右的降低,有些地区有3~5℃的降低;GRAPES_Meso V4.0对高度场、温度场和风场的改进效果比较显著,500 hPa的温度、风速、位势高度场的相关系数均有显著提高,850 hPa的均方根误差也明显降低,整体性能明显高于GRAPES_Meso V3.0。