Monsoon Intraseasonal Variability Research Articles

Correction: A new insight into monsoon intraseasonal variability as revealed from distinct wind-precipitation regimes over the southwest coast of India

Correction: A new insight into monsoon intraseasonal variability as revealed from distinct wind-precipitation regimes over the southwest coast of India

A new insight into monsoon intraseasonal variability as revealed from distinct wind-precipitation regimes over the southwest coast of India

A new insight into monsoon intraseasonal variability as revealed from distinct wind-precipitation regimes over the southwest coast of India

Persistent Wet and Dry Spells of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall: A Reexamination of Definitions of “Active” and “Break” Events

Abstract Persisting wet events (PWEs) and persisting dry events (PDEs) over central India (CI), defined by rain spells lasting for 5 days or more above and below climatology, respectively, represent an important component of the Indian summer monsoon’s intraseasonal variability. However, half of such PREs and PDEs that do not overlap with conventionally defined “active” and “break” spells over CI while contributing about 20% to the seasonal mean remained poorly studied. Here we find that, in contrast to more abundant longer (>5 days) wet and dry spells over the CI, the intraseasonal rainfall variability over northeast India (NEI) is characterized by higher abundance of intense shorter spells (<5 days). Physically, the difference is linked to the fact that monsoon intraseasonal oscillations with a 30–60-day time scale dominate subseasonal variability over the CI, whereas the 10–20-day quasi-biweekly mode dominates subseasonal variability over NEI. While non-overlapping PDEs are associated with large-scale but lower-intensity breaks, non-overlapping PWEs are associated with synoptic events with relatively smaller spatial scales rather than large-scale active events. Here, a percentile-based definition of active and break spells as daily rainfall in excess of the 90th percentile and below the 30th percentile, respectively, persisting for more than 3 days is proposed; this encompasses almost all non-overlapping PWEs and PDEs and is expected to be more useful to the users. Contributions of the subseasonal fluctuations to the seasonal mean and their association with predictable drivers indicate that the seasonal mean rainfall over the NEI is significantly less predictable than that over the CI. Significance Statement Farmers eagerly await the extended range projections of “wet” and “dry” phases of Indian monsoon intraseasonal variability for planting, harvesting, and water resource management. The prevailing definitions for “active” and “break” spells, however, ignored the less intense persisting wet or dry events that contribute roughly equally to the seasonal mean rainfall. To facilitate the process, a new percentile-based definition of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall’s intraseasonal spells is proposed that includes nearly all non-overlapping PWEs and PDEs. The subseasonal fluctuations’ contributions to the seasonal mean and its association with predictable drivers suggest that the seasonal mean rainfall over the NEI is much less predictable than that over the CI, and thus illustrates the contrasting features of spells within these two regions.

Representation of moist convective processes in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 and Phase 6 models for the simulation of Indian summer monsoon intraseasonal variability

AbstractThis study assesses the simulation of the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO), particularly the moist convective processes associated with the BSISO in 10 models from phases 5 and 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6). Most of the models show a slower northward propagation of the BSISO and cannot simulate the origin of positive rainfall anomalies over the equatorial Indian Ocean. The generation of barotropic vorticity to the north of the convection centre leads to the northward shift of moisture convergence resulting in the northward propagation of convection. This mechanism is also insufficient in the models. The models show a lack of consistent evolution of moisture with increasing rain rates. Some of the CMIP6 models such as MPI‐ESM1‐2‐LR, FGOALS‐f3‐L, and NorESM2‐MM exhibit better northward propagation and the associated moist processes. A random relationship between vertical velocity, specific humidity, and precipitation is seen in the observation. On the other hand, the models show a deterministic relationship among these parameters with a much higher fraction of convective rain than large‐scale rain. Only FGOALS‐f3‐L (from the CMIP6 family), which uses convection resolving precipitation parameterization, where the convective and stratiform precipitation is calculated explicitly, produces the variability seen in the observation to a large extent.

Intraseasonal variability of global land monsoon precipitation and its recent trend

Accurate prediction of global land monsoon rainfall on a sub-seasonal (2–8 weeks) time scale has become a worldwide demand. Current forecasts of weekly-mean rainfall in most monsoon regions, however, have limited skills beyond two weeks, calling for a more profound understanding of monsoon intraseasonal variability (ISV). We show that the high-frequency (HF; 8–20 days) ISV, crucial for the Week 2 and Week 3 predictions, accounts for about 53–70% of the total (8–70 days) ISV, generally dominating the sub-seasonal predictability of various land monsoons, while the low-frequency (LF; 20–70 days)’s contribution is comparable to HF only over Australia (AU; 47%), South Asia (SA; 43%), and South America (SAM; 40%). The leading modes of HFISVs in Northern Hemisphere (NH) monsoons primarily originate from different convectively coupled equatorial waves, while from mid-latitude wave trains for Southern Hemisphere (SH) monsoons and East Asian (EA) monsoon. The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) directly regulates LFISVs in Asian-Australian monsoon and affects American and African monsoons by exciting Kelvin waves and mid-latitude teleconnections. During the past four decades, the HF (LF) ISVs have considerably intensified over Asian (Asian-Australian) monsoon but weakened over American (SAM) monsoon. Sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction models exhibit higher sub-seasonal prediction skills over AU, SA, and SAM monsoons that have larger LFISV contributions than other monsoons. These results suggest an urgent need to improve the simulation of convectively coupled equatorial waves and two-way interactions between regional monsoon ISVs and mid-latitude processes and between MJO and regional monsoons, especially under the global warming scenarios.

Assessment of Lead-Lag and Spatial Changes in simulating different epochs of the Indian summer monsoon using RegCM4

The present study examines the efficacy of the regional climate model RegCM4 in depicting the onset, active, and break phases of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The model is driven by National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/NCAR Reanalysis 1 project (NNRP1) data of 28 years (1981–2008) for each monsoon separately. High-resolution gridded rainfall analysis dataset of India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the monsoon epochal report from National Climate Center (NCC) are used for verification. Besides assessment of model performance using qualitative methods, several standard statistical techniques are used to understand the capability of the model in representing monsoonal epochs.A relationship between the SST changes over the Niño-3.4 region and the ISM over all India and the monsoon core region (MCR) is established where a strong dependency in the rainfall variation over the MCR with the SST variation is found than all India rainfall. The performance of the model is satisfactory in portraying the spatial and temporal intraseasonal variability (ISV) of monsoon over MCR and all India regions. It is found that the model performance is higher in simulating the onset and break phases (dry days) than the active phases. The limited skill of the RegCM4 model in representing the active phase is due to the model simulated low temperature and weak pressure gradient over the MCR which prevents the convection and given rise to small and weak active phases over the region. The mechanism from the pre-onset to onset of monsoon, and the monsoon advance between the onset and the monsoon ISV is also well captured by the RegCM4. Weak tropospheric temperature gradient over the Indian subcontinent during the pre-onset period causes delay onset over the Indian subcontinent and the subsequent high tropospheric temperature gradient during the mid of June causes a faster progression of the active/break phases of monsoon. At the same time, simulation of the monsoon phase by the model is heavily regulated by the changes of SST over the Niño-3.4 region. The signal of ENSO variability, forces to the model through the ICBC, modulates the capability of the regional model in identifying the interannual and ISV of monsoon over the MCR region.

Bay of Bengal Intraseasonal Oscillations and the 2018 Monsoon Onset

AbstractIn the Bay of Bengal, the warm, dry boreal spring concludes with the onset of the summer monsoon and accompanying southwesterly winds, heavy rains, and variable air–sea fluxes. Here, we summarize the 2018 monsoon onset using observations collected through the multinational Monsoon Intraseasonal Oscillations in the Bay of Bengal (MISO-BoB) program between the United States, India, and Sri Lanka. MISO-BoB aims to improve understanding of monsoon intraseasonal variability, and the 2018 field effort captured the coupled air–sea response during a transition from active-to-break conditions in the central BoB. The active phase of the ∼20-day research cruise was characterized by warm sea surface temperature (SST > 30°C), cold atmospheric outflows with intermittent heavy rainfall, and increasing winds (from 2 to 15 m s−1). Accumulated rainfall exceeded 200 mm with 90% of precipitation occurring during the first week. The following break period was both dry and clear, with persistent 10–12 m s−1 wind and evaporation of 0.2 mm h−1. The evolving environmental state included a deepening ocean mixed layer (from ∼20 to 50 m), cooling SST (by ∼1°C), and warming/drying of the lower to midtroposphere. Local atmospheric development was consistent with phasing of the large-scale intraseasonal oscillation. The upper ocean stores significant heat in the BoB, enough to maintain SST above 29°C despite cooling by surface fluxes and ocean mixing. Comparison with reanalysis indicates biases in air–sea fluxes, which may be related to overly cool prescribed SST. Resolution of such biases offers a path toward improved forecasting of transition periods in the monsoon.

Intraseasonal, Seasonal, and Interannual Characteristics of Regional Monsoon Simulations in CESM2

AbstractA survey of intraseasonal, seasonal, and interannual precipitation and 850 hPa winds for various monsoon regimes around the world is presented for the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2) compared to observations and the previous generation CESM1. In CESM2 the south Asian monsoon has a reduction of excessive precipitation in the western Indian Ocean and an increase of precipitation in the eastern Bay of Bengal and land areas of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The seasonal timing of the south Asian monsoon, monsoon‐ENSO connections, and monsoon intraseasonal variability all are improved compared to CESM1. For the Australian monsoon, deficient precipitation over the Maritime Continent has been improved in CESM2 with increases of precipitation over the large tropical islands of Borneo, Celebes, and Papua New Guinea and decreases over southwestern Australia. In the West African monsoon, May–June seasonal rainfall occurs more preferentially over the African coast in CESM2 as in observations, and excessive rainfall over the Ethiopian region is reduced. During July–September in the West African monsoon, deficient precipitation over equatorial Africa in CESM1 has been lessened in CESM2, and there are increases in precipitation over the Guinean coast, though there is little overall improvement in the South African monsoon. In the South American monsoon, precipitation in CESM2 is improved with increased precipitation over the Amazon in central and western Brazil. CESM2 simulates a reduction of excessive precipitation seen in CESM1 over coastal Mexico extending up into the U.S. Great Plains in the North American monsoon.

INSAT-3D low-level atmospheric motion vectors: Capability to capture Indian summer monsoon intra-seasonal variability

In India, Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) are derived operationally from the advanced Indian meteorological geostationary satellite INSAT-3D since July 2013 over Indian Ocean region and are used in the numerical model for forecast improvement. In this study, first-time the low-level monsoon winds derived from INSAT-3D satellite have been used to see how these winds are successful in capturing the intra-seasonal variability over the Indian Ocean region for the year 2016. A validation of AMVs is done on regular basis. In this study, the validation of low-level AMVs with National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) analysis winds carried out during June to September 2016. The observed mean monthly features of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) in July and August 2016 from low-level AMVs from INSAT-3D match well with those of NCEP analysis winds. INSAT-3D low-level AMVs are quite successful in capturing the northward propagation of low level jet and their locations during active and break monsoon conditions which are known features of the ISM. They are also able to explain the two dominant modes of variability: (i) one with a periodicity between 32 and 64 days, and (ii) another with a periodicity between 8 and 16 days, for the monsoon season of 2016 when Morlet wavelet transform analysis is performed for time series analysis. An EOF analysis is performed for the study of the spatial structure of intra-seasonal variability and temporal variability of INSAT-3D low-level AMVs over the Indian Ocean region for ISM 2016 and quantifies the results of EOF analysis by performing RMSE analysis between EOFs of INSAT-3D and NCEP wind data.

The role of potential vorticity anomalies in the Somali Jet on Indian Summer Monsoon Intraseasonal Variability

The climate of the Indian subcontinent is dominated by rainfall arising from the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) during June to September. Intraseasonal variability during the monsoon is characterized by periods of heavy rainfall interspersed by drier periods, known as active and break events respectively. Understanding and predicting such events is of vital importance for forecasting human impacts such as water resources. The Somali Jet is a key regional feature of the monsoon circulation. In the present study, we find that the spatial structure of Somali Jet potential vorticity (PV) anomalies varies considerably during active and break periods. Analysis of these anomalies shows a mechanism whereby sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies propagate north/northwestwards through the Arabian Sea, caused by a positive feedback loop joining anomalies in SST, convection, modification of PV by diabatic heating and mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer, wind-stress curl, and ocean upwelling processes. The feedback mechanism is consistent with observed variability in the coupled ocean–atmosphere system on timescales of approximately 20 days. This research suggests that better understanding and prediction of monsoon intraseasonal variability in the South Asian monsoon may be gained by analysis of the day-to-day dynamical evolution of PV in the Somali Jet.

Monsoon intra-seasonal variability in a high-resolution version of Met Office Global Coupled model

Intra-seasonal oscillation (ISO) is a key ingredient of the East Asia and western North Pacific (EAWNP) summer monsoon and particularly important for seasonal forecast. This paper evaluates the seasonal means and ISOs of the EAWNP summer monsoon simulated by the latest version of the Met Office Global Coupled Model (HadGEM3-GC2) with two different atmospheric model resolutions at ~130 and ~25 km coupled to a same 0.25° × 0.25° resolution ocean model. Results show that the mean states of sea surface temperature (SST), low-level specific humidity and the western Pacific subtropical high are all improved in HadGEM3-GC2 with higher atmosphere resolution. Moreover, although ISO variance is overestimated over the western North Pacific, the model has good fidelity in characterising ISO basic features over the EAWNP including the dominant EOF structure, northward propagation and cycle evolution, as well as the zonal displacement of western Pacific Subtropical High and South Asian High associated with the northward propagating ISOs. Increasing atmosphere model resolution yields improvements in most aspects of the Monsoon ISO over the EAWNP, especially for its northward propagation. Further analysis indicates that this improvement is mainly due to the better description of ISO-related air–sea interaction in higher resolution experiment, as evidenced by the enhanced intra-seasonal SST variance and more coherent northward propagation of rainfall, SST, and the associated surface dynamic and thermodynamic variables in the higher resolution model.

West African monsoon intraseasonal activity and its daily precipitation indices in regional climate models: diagnostics and challenges

The West African monsoon intraseasonal variability has huge socio-economic impacts on local populations but understanding and predicting it still remains a challenge for the weather prediction and climate scientific community. This paper analyses an ensemble of simulations from six regional climate models (RCMs) taking part in the coordinated regional downscaling experiment, the ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis (ERAI) and three satellite-based and observationally-constrained daily precipitation datasets, to assess the performance of the RCMs with regard to the intraseasonal variability. A joint analysis of seasonal-mean precipitation and the total column water vapor (also called precipitable water—PW) suggests the existence of important links at different timescales between these two variables over the Sahel and highlights the relevance of using PW to follow the monsoon seasonal cycle. RCMs that fail to represent the seasonal-mean position and amplitude of the meridional gradient of PW show the largest discrepancies with respect to seasonal-mean observed precipitation. For both ERAI and RCMs, spectral decompositions of daily PW as well as rainfall show an overestimation of low-frequency activity (at timescales longer than 10 days) at the expense of the synoptic (timescales shorter than 10 days) activity. Consequently, the effects of the African Easterly Waves and the associated mesoscale convective systems are substantially underestimated, especially over continental regions. Finally, the study investigates the skill of the models with respect to hydro-climatic indices related to the occurrence, intensity and frequency of precipitation events at the intraseasonal scale. Although most of these indices are generally better reproduced with RCMs than reanalysis products, this study indicates that RCMs still need to be improved (especially with respect to their subgrid-scale parameterization schemes) to be able to reproduce the intraseasonal variance spectrum adequately.

Atmospheric controls on the precipitation isotopes over the Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal.

Isotopic analysis of precipitation over the Andaman Island, Bay of Bengal was carried out for the year 2012 and 2013 in order to study the atmospheric controls on rainwater isotopic variations. The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions are typical of the tropical marine sites but show significant variations depending on the ocean-atmosphere conditions; maximum depletion was observed during the tropical cyclones. The isotopic composition of rainwater seems to be controlled by the dynamical nature of the moisture rather than the individual rain events. Precipitation isotopes undergo systematic depletions in response to the organized convection occurring over a large area and are modulated by the integrated effect of convective activities. Precipitation isotopes appear to be linked with the monsoon intraseasonal variability in addition to synoptic scale fluctuations. During the early to mid monsoon the amount effect arose primarily due to rain re-evaporation but in the later phase it was driven by moisture convergence rather than evaporation. Amount effect had distinct characteristics in these two years, which appeared to be modulated by the intraseasonal variability of monsoon. It is shown that the variable nature of amount effect limits our ability to reconstruct the past-monsoon rainfall variability on annual to sub-annual time scale.

Regional boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation over Indian Ocean and Western Pacific: comparison and predictability study

The boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) has two major activity centers, the northern Indian Ocean and tropical Western North Pacific, which dominate the monsoon intraseasonal variability over South Asia and East Asia, respectively. The spatial–temporal structures of BSISO over the Indian Ocean (10°S–30°N, 60°–105°E) (IOISO) and Western Pacific (10°S–30°N, 105°–150°E) (WPISO) are examined by corresponding the leading modes of daily OLR and 850-hPa zonal wind (U850). The IOISO features a northeastward propagation with a 30–45 days energy peak and the first principal component (PC1) has maximum variance in May, while the WPISO propagates northward with a broad spectral peak on 10–60 days and the PC1 has maximum variance in August. Because of the large regional differences, two regional indices, the IOISO index and WPISO index, are defined by their corresponding first two leading PCs. The combined IOISO–WPISO index captures about 30 % (10 %) of U850 (OLR) daily variance over the entire IO–WP region (10°S–30°N, 60°–150°E), which doubles that captured by the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) index (Wheeler and Hendon 2004) and is 50 % higher than that captured by the BSISO index (Lee et al. 2013). The combined index also shows superior performance in representing biweekly and pentad-mean variations in the Asian-Pacific summer monsoon region (north of 10°N). The predictability/prediction skill and simulated principal modes of two regional BSISO indices are explored by using data derived from the Intraseasonal Variability Hindcast Experiment project. The major regional modes are reasonably well captured, but the forecasted fractional variances of the leading modes and variability center’s locations exhibit significant deficiencies. The multi-model mean estimate of the predictability is 40–45 days for the IOISO index, whereas 33–37 days for the WPISO index. The less predictable WPISO is likely due to the existence of its significant biweekly component. The multi-model mean prediction skill is significantly higher with large initial amplitude (~20 days for two indices) than that with small initial amplitude (~11 days), suggesting that the prediction for development of BSISO is much more difficult than the prediction for mature BSISO disturbances’ propagation.

The impact of monsoon intraseasonal variability on renewable power generation in India

India is increasingly investing in renewable technology to meet rising energy demands, with hydropower and other renewables comprising one-third of current installed capacity. Installed wind-power is projected to increase 5-fold by 2035 (to nearly 100GW) under the International Energy Agency's New Policies scenario. However, renewable electricity generation is dependent upon the prevailing meteorology, which is strongly influenced by monsoon variability. Prosperity and widespread electrification are increasing the demand for air conditioning, especially during the warm summer. This study uses multi-decadal observations and meteorological reanalysis data to assess the impact of intraseasonal monsoon variability on the balance of electricity supply from wind-power and temperature-related demand in India. Active monsoon phases are characterized by vigorous convection and heavy rainfall over central India. This results in lower temperatures giving lower cooling energy demand, while strong westerly winds yield high wind-power output. In contrast, monsoon breaks are characterized by suppressed precipitation, with higher temperatures and hence greater demand for cooling, and lower wind-power output across much of India. The opposing relationship between wind-power supply and cooling demand during active phases (low demand, high supply) and breaks (high demand, low supply) suggests that monsoon variability will tend to exacerbate fluctuations in the so-called demand-net-wind (i.e., electrical demand that must be supplied from non-wind sources). This study may have important implications for the design of power systems and for investment decisions in conventional schedulable generation facilities (such as coal and gas) that are used to maintain the supply/demand balance. In particular, if it is assumed (as is common) that the generated wind-power operates as a price-taker (i.e., wind farm operators always wish to sell their power, irrespective of price) then investors in conventional facilities will face additional weather-volatility through the monsoonal impact on the length and frequency of production periods (i.e. their load-duration curves).

Erratum to: Simulation of monsoon intraseasonal variability in NCEP CFSv2 and its role on systematic bias

Erratum to: Simulation of monsoon intraseasonal variability in NCEP CFSv2 and its role on systematic bias

Simulation of monsoon intraseasonal variability in NCEP CFSv2 and its role on systematic bias

We have evaluated the simulation of Indian summer monsoon and its intraseasonal oscillations in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction climate forecast system model version 2 (CFSv2). The dry bias over the Indian landmass in the mean monsoon rainfall is one of the major concerns. In spite of this dry bias, CFSv2 shows a reasonable northward propagation of convection at intraseasonal (30–60 day) time scale. In order to document and understand this dry bias over the Indian landmass in CFSv2 simulations, a two pronged investigation is carried out on the two major facets of Indian summer monsoon: one, the air–sea interactions and two, the large scale vertical heating structure in the model. Our analysis shows a possible bias in the co-evolution of convection and sea surface temperature in CFSv2 over the equatorial Indian Ocean. It is also found that the simulated large scale vertical heat source (Q1) and moisture sink (Q2) over the Indian region are biased relative to observational estimates. Finally, this study provides a possible explanation for the dry precipitation bias over the Indian landmass in the simulated mean monsoon on the basis of the biases associated with the simulated ocean–atmospheric processes and the vertical heating structure. This study also throws some light on the puzzle of CFSv2 exhibiting a reasonable northward propagation at the intraseasonal time scale (30–60 day) despite a drier monsoon over the Indian land mass.

Isomap nonlinear dimensionality reduction and bimodality of Asian monsoon convection

It is known that the empirical orthogonal function method is unable to detect possible nonlinear structure in climate data. Here, isometric feature mapping (Isomap), as a tool for nonlinear dimensionality reduction, is applied to 1958–2001 ERA‐40 sea‐level pressure anomalies to study nonlinearity of the Asian summer monsoon intraseasonal variability. Using the leading two Isomap time series, the probability density function is shown to be bimodal. A two‐dimensional bivariate Gaussian mixture model is then applied to identify the monsoon phases, the obtained regimes representing enhanced and suppressed phases, respectively. The relationship with the large‐scale seasonal mean monsoon indicates that the frequency of monsoon regime occurrence is significantly perturbed in agreement with conceptual ideas, with preference for enhanced convection on intraseasonal time scales during large‐scale strong monsoons. Trend analysis suggests a shift in concentration of monsoon convection, with less emphasis on South Asia and more on the East China Sea.

West African Monsoon Intraseasonal Variability: A Precipitable Water Perspective

Abstract West African monsoon intraseasonal variability has important implications for food security and drought early warnings. In the present study, intraseasonal variability over the Sahel is assessed from the perspective of precipitable water, as provided by model reanalyses and GPS measurements. In the eastern Sahel, precipitable water variability is dominated by time scales longer than 10 days, whereas synoptic scales dominate in the western Sahel, especially because of African easterly waves (AEWs). The present work then focuses on the moisture footprint of AEWs along the northern side of the African easterly jet, as detected and analyzed directly from the main synoptic disturbances associated with precipitable water. Composite wet and dry precipitable water anomalies within AEWs propagate westward with a 5–6-day period. Their robustness, consistency, and spatial footprint, as well as their significant modulation of the convective activity, imply potential skill for short- to medium-range forecasts of wet and dry events over the Sahel. A composite moisture budget points out the key processes involved in the evolution of moisture anomalies. Advection processes are shown to be dominant during their life cycle. A linear adiabatic analysis of the propagation and growth of AEW precipitable water anomalies captures the main observed properties well, even though a key role of diabatic processes such as rain evaporation is needed to fully understand the life cycle of such precipitable water anomalies, especially their growth over the continent.

Modeling Monsoon Intraseasonal Variability: From Theory to Operational Forecasting

No Abstract available.