Wave to wave and wave to zonal mean flow kinetic energy exchanges during contrasting monsoon years

Fourier analysis of the monthly mean northern hemispheric geopotential heights for the levels 700 mb and 300 mb are undertaken for the months of April through to August. The wave to wave and wave to zonal mean flow kinetic energy interactions are computed for specified latitude bands of the northern hemisphere during the pre-monsoon period (April to May) and monsoon period (June through to August) for bad monsoon years (1972, 1974, 1979) and for years of good monsoon rainfall over India (1967, 1973, 1977). Planetary scale waves (waves 1 to 4) are the major kinetic energy source in the upper atmosphere during the monsoon months. Waves 1 and 2 in particular are a greater source of kinetic energy to other waves via both wave to wave interactions as well as wave to zonal mean flow interactions in good monsoon years than in bad monsoon years. The zonal mean flow shows significantly larger gains in the kinetic energy with a strengthening of zonal westerlies in good monsoon years than in bad monsoon years.