Abstract

The South Asian summer monsoon brings copious rain to agriculture-dependent country India and bulk of the precipitation in central India is attributed to monsoon low pressure systems (LPS). Large uncertainty exists in the statistics of LPS during the historical period and in future projections. In this study, we have developed an LPS tracking approach which considers geopotential height anomaly and relative vorticity thresholds. The approach is validated by comparing characteristics of LPS from our tracking scheme with those from previous studies. Our analysis indicates around 14 LPS per year (over 68 LPS-days). 60–70% of monsoon rainfall in north, east and central India is found to be associated with LPS (location is within 1000 km radii of LPS). Over the central Indian region, around 82% of extreme precipitation events occur during LPS days, out of which 47% are on depression and deep depression days and 78% is associated with LPS. 15–25% of monsoon precipitation in central and East Indian states is in the form of extreme precipitation associated with LPS. At many locations in central India, very heavy precipitation (≥ 124.5 mm/day) due to LPS is estimated to have a return period less than 5 years. Further, our analysis shows that the intensity of extreme precipitation is larger by 50% (95th percentile precipitation) to 100% (99th percentile) when the extreme is associated with LPS. Our analysis of extreme precipitation related to LPS has the potential to provide valuable information for flood risk assessment during monsoon season in central India.

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