This study evaluates the performance of four impact‐type disdrometers installed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, located on the leeside of the Western Ghats (WG). Further, ...seasonal variation of rain microphysical properties is studied during premonsoon (March–May), monsoon (June–September), postmonsoon (October–November), and winter (December–February). The four disdrometers exhibit comparable raindrop size distribution (DSD) patterns, though negligible differences are found at smaller drop diameters. The DSD shows higher concentrations of smaller (large‐size) drops during monsoon (premonsoon and postmonsoon). Principal component analysis revealed three distinct modes of DSD characteristics. Monsoon DSDs are associated with a group of numerous smaller drops allied with shallow storm heights (warm rain). The premonsoon and postmonsoon DSDs are clustered in a group where ice‐based processes dominate, resulting in higher median drop diameters (D0) and smaller normalized intercept parameters (Nw). The fitted gamma DSD model indicates higher mass‐weighted mean diameter (Dm) during premonsoon, and higher intercept parameter during monsoon, whereas postmonsoon and winter have intermediate values. DSD stratified with rain rate shows that the Dm values increase with an increase in rain rate during winter, monsoon and postmonsoon, whereas in premonsoon, Dm increases initially and then decreases. Higher Dm and lower Nw are observed during convective rain in all seasons. The fitted slope–shape parameter relationships show a considerable seasonal variation. The DSD on the WG's leeside is notably different from the windward slopes and other WG locations. Different microphysical and dynamical mechanisms lead to seasonal differences in DSD characteristics. In monsoon, a considerable volume of water vapour advected from the Arabian Sea promotes the formation of raindrops through collision–coalescence processes, which may result in a higher proportion of smaller and midsized raindrops. The deeper clouds during premonsoon and postmonsoon indicate mixed‐phase processes, which lead to mid and large‐sized raindrops.
Mean value of the raindrop median volume diameter, D0, versus logarithm of normalized intercept parameter, Nw for four seasons. The vertical bars represent the standard deviation. The microphysical processes inferred from Dolan et al. (2018) are represented with black rectangles. The Marshall–Palmer value of stratiform and convective separation is shown with a dot‐dashed grey line and a dashed grey line indicates the Bringi et al. (2003) classification of stratiform and convective systems.
Indian subcontinent receives ~80% of its annual total rainfall during Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and since last 100 years the prediction of interannual variability of ISM is limited due to ...incomplete understanding of various processes and their localized influence on the development of varying scales of convective systems. The present study reports that the intense lightning contributed from the deepest convections occurring over Indian subcontinent are concentrated in four specific regions: (a) southwest coast, (b) Gangetic‐Brahmaputra plain, (c) Himalayan foothills and (d) southeast coast. The spatial and temporal variations of deep convections, size of “convection fractions” and associated physical mechanisms are described. It shows an annual cycle of systematic onset and withdrawal of deep convections and associated lightning depending on region and season. The southwest coast region is developing very deep convections during premonsoon and postmonsoon seasons but less lightning during monsoon. While Arabian Sea sources high moisture to this region in monsoon season, the orographic lift of low‐level westerlies by Western Ghats may effectively assist the warm rain processes and produce highest rainfall, low lightning and low area of deep convections. Highest flash rates, high number of days with lightning and higher area of convection are observed in Gangetic‐Brahmaputra plain but relatively lower rainfall compared to southwest coast region during monsoon. The sustained strong updrafts over the Gangetic‐Brahmaputra plain region are supported by the moisture source from warmer Bay of Bengal, incidence of monsoon trough and the continental heating. Significant lightning activity observed in northwest part of Himalayan foothills during winter is associated with Western Disturbances (WD) phenomena. The diurnal variation of lightning flash rate and size of “convective fraction” in these regions show two modes at 1200 and 1800 UTC and it indicates active day time surface heating and nocturnal cooling processes together contribute to total rainfall.
The most convections occurring over Indian subcontinent are concentrated in four specific regions. The prevailing seasonal large‐scale conditions respond differently at each of these locations. During Indian summer monsoon, the southwest coast produces very less lightning and the highest rainfall and the Gangetic‐Brahmaputra plain produces highest lightning but relatively less rainfall. The gentle lift of westerlies by Western Ghats assists in southwest coast for effective warm rain processes and less lightning. Whereas the warmer Bay of Bengal, incidence of monsoon trough and the local orography all together assist at Gangetic‐Brahmaputra plain for stronger updraft, formation of very deep convection and high intensity of lightning. This study shows a systematic onset and withdrawal of deep convections and associated lightning depending on location and season. The most convections over Indian subcontinent are concentrated in four specific regions. Southwest cost produces highest rainfall and low lightning during monsoon indicating low clouds and warm rain processes. Gangetic‐Brahmaputra plain produces relatively low rainfall and highest lightning during monsoon indicating high clouds and ice phase processes. This study shows a systematic onset and withdrawal of deep convections and associated lightning depending on location and season.
The nature of raindrop size distribution (DSD) is analyzed for wet and dry spells of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) in the Western Ghats (WG) region using Joss–Waldvogel disdrometer (JWD) ...measurements during the ISM period (June–September) in 2012–2015. The observed DSDs are fitted with a gamma distribution. Observations show a higher number of smaller drops in dry spells and more midsize and large drops in wet spells. The DSD spectra show distinct diurnal variation during wet and dry spells. The dry spells exhibit a strong diurnal cycle with two peaks, while the diurnal cycle is not very prominent in the wet spells. Results reveal the microphysical characteristics of warm rain during both wet and dry periods. However, the underlying dynamical parameters, such as moisture availability and vertical wind, cause the differences in DSD characteristics. The higher moisture and strong vertical winds can provide sufficient time for the raindrops to grow bigger in wet spells, whereas higher temperature may lead to evaporation and drop breakup processes in dry spells. In addition, the differences in DSD spectra with different rain rates are also observed. The DSD spectra are further analyzed by separating them into stratiform and convective rain types. Finally, an empirical relationship between the slope parameter λ and the shape parameter μ is derived by fitting the quadratic polynomial during wet and dry spells as well as for stratiform and convective types of rain. The μ–λ relations obtained in this work are slightly different compared to previous studies. These differences could be related to different rain microphysics such as collision–coalescence and breakup.
This study presents the characteristics of black carbon aerosol (BC) over a high-altitude site, Mahabaleshwar during the monsoon season. The mass concentration of BC exhibits a morning peak and a ...daytime build-up with a mean mass concentration of 303 ± 142 ng m
−3
. The simultaneous measurements of aerosol particle number concentration (PNC), cloud condensation nuclei concentration (CCN), and non-refractory particulate matter less than 1 μm size (NR-PM
1
) were also made by using a Wide-Range Aerosol Spectrometer (WRAS), CCN counter and Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) respectively. The source apportionment using wavelength-dependent light absorption model reveals the dominance by wood burning sources during morning hours and traffic sources during remaining hours of the day. The diurnal variation of PNC follows the variability of BC mass concentration. However, CCN concentrations were high during the morning hours coinciding with the increased fractional contribution of organics. The
k
-means clustering coupled with fuzzy algorithm highlights the effect of different sources on aerosol size distribution. On the basis of size distribution curve, the 3 clusters were attributed to wood burning (mean diameter range: 50–100 nm), traffic (30–50 nm), and background aerosols (65–95 nm). The combined analysis of
k
-means clustering, fractional contribution of organics, and
kappa
variation suggests that higher CCN concentration during morning is mainly attributed to probable emission of the water-soluble organic/inorganic compounds from wood burning.
This paper is an overview of the progress in sky radiometer technology and the development of the network called SKYNET. It is found that the technology has produced useful on-site calibration ...methods, retrieval algorithms, and data analyses from sky radiometer observations of aerosol, cloud, water vapor, and ozone. A formula was proposed for estimating the accuracy of the sky radiometer calibration constant F0 using the improved Langley (IL) method, which was found to be a good approximation to observed monthly mean uncertainty in F0, around 0.5 % to 2.4 % at the Tokyo and Rome sites and smaller values of around 0.3 % to 0.5 % at the mountain sites at Mt. Saraswati and Davos. A new cross IL (XIL) method was also developed to correct an underestimation by the IL method in cases with large aerosol retrieval errors. The root-mean-square difference (RMSD) in aerosol optical thickness (AOT) comparisons with other networks took values of less than 0.02 for λ≥500 nm and a larger value of about 0.03 for shorter wavelengths in city areas and smaller values of less than 0.01 in mountain comparisons. Accuracies of single-scattering albedo (SSA) and size distribution retrievals are affected by the propagation of errors in measurement, calibrations for direct solar and diffuse sky radiation, ground albedo, cloud screening, and the version of the analysis software called the Skyrad pack. SSA values from SKYNET were up to 0.07 larger than those from AERONET, and the major error sources were identified as an underestimation of solid viewing angle (SVA) and cloud contamination. Correction of these known error factors reduced the SSA difference to less than 0.03. Retrievals of other atmospheric constituents by the sky radiometer were also reviewed. Retrieval accuracies were found to be about 0.2 cm for precipitable water vapor amount and 13 DU (Dobson Unit) for column ozone amount. Retrieved cloud optical properties still showed large deviations from validation data, suggesting a need to study the causes of the differences. It is important that these recent studies on improvements presented in the present paper are introduced into the existing operational systems and future systems of the International SKYNET Data Center.
Atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) is a crucial process driving aerosol number concentrations in the atmosphere; it can significantly impact the evolution of atmospheric aerosol and cloud ...processes. This study analyses at least 1 year of asynchronous particle number size distributions from six different locations in India. We also analyze the frequency of NPF and its contribution to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. We found that the NPF frequency has a considerable seasonal variability. At the measurement sites analyzed in this study, NPF frequently occurs in March–May (pre-monsoon, about 21 % of the days) and is the least common in October–November (post-monsoon, about 7 % of the days). Considering the NPF events in all locations, the particle formation rate (J_(SDS)) varied by more than 2 orders of magnitude (0.001–0.6 /cu.cm s) and the growth rate between the smallest detectable size and 25 nm (GR_(SDS-25 nm)) by about 3 orders of magnitude (0.2–17.2 nm/h). We found that JSDS was higher by nearly 1 order of magnitude during NPF events in urban areas than mountain sites. GRSDS did not show a systematic difference. Our results showed that NPF events could significantly modulate the shape of particle number size distributions and CCN concentrations in India. The contribution of a given NPF event to CCN concentrations was the highest in urban locations (4.3 × 10^(3) /cu.cm per event and 1.2 × 10^(3)/cu.cm per event for 50 and 100 nm, respectively) as compared to mountain background sites (2.7 × 10^(3)/cu.cm per event and 1.0 × 10^(3)/cu.cm per event, respectively). We emphasize that the physical and chemical pathways responsible for NPF and factors that control its contribution to CCN production require in situ field observations using recent advances in aerosol and its precursor gaseous measurement techniques.
The temporal variability of the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) over Mahabaleshwar was studied for a period of 1 year from 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016 using microwave radiometer (MWR) ...observations. The PBLH over Mahabaleshwar was found to be the highest during the pre-monsoon (March–May) season and lowest during the winter (December–February) season. The seasonal mean of PBLH was estimated to be 339±88 m during winter, 485±70 m during pre-monsoon, 99±153 m during monsoon, and 438±24 m during post-monsoon season. Frequency distribution analysis of PBLH during pre-monsoon season revealed that the formation of turbulence internal boundary layer (TIBL) is evident. In contrast, cold and moist air mass during the monsoon season enhances the wind shear with lower buoyancy term which results in lowering of PBLH. The comparison of PBLH between MWR and radiosonde observations shows a good correlation (
r
2
= 0.66,
p
=0.001). The growth rate was observed to be 388 m/h during pre-monsoon, 206 m/h during winter, 57 m/h during monsoon, and 167 m/h during post-monsoon season. The seasonal mean concentration of PM
2.5
was found to be 42.3±4.6 μg/m
3
during winter, 33.4±8.7 μg/m
3
during pre-monsoon, 6.6±2.2 μg/m
3
during monsoon, and 26.1±1.7 μg/m
3
during post-monsoon season. The effect of higher loading of scattering-type aerosol (dust particle) was also investigated as a case study. The analysis reveals the inverse relationship between the PBL height variability and the particulate loading indicating the importance of aerosol direct effect. Analysis of the ventilation coefficient (Vc) revealed that the dissipation potential was higher (1736 m
2
/s) during pre-monsoon season as compared to (1191 m
2
/s, 455m
2
/s, and 1580 m
2
/s) winter, monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons.
With an aim to study the year-to-year changes in physical, optical, and radiative properties of polar aerosols, special observation campaigns were conducted during three consecutive summers of 2010, ...2011 and 2012 over Ny-Ålesund (78.9°N, 11.9°E, 42 m AMSL), Arctic, employing a ground-based Multi-channel Solar-radiometer (MICROTOPS II Sun- photometer). In the present study, the columnar Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) at λ = 500 nm and the Angstrom exponent (α) data sets are used to analyse the daily mean AOD and α by using a liner regression (best-fit) method. The results highlight that the columnar aerosol optical depth (mean AOD@500 nm for the study period) is 0.144 ± 0.05. Signature of secondary aerosol formation through marine sources based on variation in two wavelength AODs is also studied. These columnar AOD measurements over the study region are found to be in good agreement within experimental limitations with the synchronous MODIS satellite derived values. The 3 years' α mean value is found to be 0.797 ± 0.328 within the range of 0.01-1.4. The frequency of occurrence and relative frequency histograms of α exhibited two modes centred at around 1.2 and 0.8. The primary and secondary modes reveal that the marine aerosols in the study region are mixed type, and they contribute about 44%, with the accumulation particles alone contributing about 31%. We found a close correspondence between aerosol optical properties and local meteorological conditions over the experimental location. The aerosol radiative forcing estimations revealed higher negative aerosol radiative forcing (indicating cooling) at Bottom-of-the-Atmosphere (BOA) and positive radiative forcing (indicating warming) in the Atmosphere (ATM) and Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) during 2012 as compared to those obtained during 2010 and 2011, which is consistent with the observed AOD and α. The airmass back-trajectory model analysis also showed intrusion of anthropogenic aerosols from neighbouring regions into the study region, particularly during the year 2012.
X‐band radar observations at Mandhardev (18.04°N, 73.85°E) are used to investigate statistics of convective clouds over the Western Ghats during monsoon season (June–September 2014). Convective ...storms (cells) are identified using an objective‐tracking method to examine their spatiotemporal variability, thus quantifying the time‐continuous aspects of convective cloud population over the region for the first time. An increased frequency of storm location and initiation along the windward mountains compared to coastal and lee side highlights orographic response to southwesterly flow, with superimposed diurnal cycle. An eastward progression of convective activity from upstream the barrier through windward slopes of mountains over to the lee side is observed. Storm area, height, and duration follow lognormal distributions; wherein, small‐sized storms contribute more to total population and unimodal distribution of 35 dBZ top heights (peaking at 5.5 km) depicts the dominance of shallow convection. Storms exhibit a pronounced diurnal cycle with a peak in afternoon hours, while the convective area maximum is delayed by several hours to that of precipitation flux. Cell lifetime and propagation show that cells move with slow speeds and have mean duration of 46 min. They align east‐west nearly parallel to mountain ridges, and their direction of movement is steered mostly by large‐scale winds at lower levels. Based on top heights, convective cells are further classified into cumulus, congestus, and deep clouds. In general, congestus (deep) cells are most abundant in the windward (leeward) side. A lead‐lag relationship between congestus and deep cells indicates midtroposphere moistening by congestus cells prior to deep convection.
Key Points
Spatial distribution of convective storms highlights effect of orography on convection initiation
Convective storm properties (area, height, and duration) follow lognormal frequency distribution
Overall, shallow convection dominates the region and persists for an average duration of 46 min
The effect of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration and droplet effective radius is investigated from ground-based measurements over a high-altitude site where clouds pass over the surface. ...First aerosol indirect effect (AIE) estimates were made using (i) relative changes in cloud droplet number concentration (AIEn) and (ii) relative changes in droplet effective radius (AIEs) with relative changes in aerosol for different cloud liquid water contents (LWCs). AIE estimates from two different methods reveal that there is systematic overestimation in AIEn as compared to that of AIEs. Aerosol indirect effects (AIEn and AIEs) and dispersion effect (DE) at different LWC regimes ranging from 0.05 to 0.50 g m−3 were estimated. The analysis demonstrates that there is overestimation of AIEn as compared to AIEs, which is mainly due to DE. Aerosol effects on spectral dispersion in droplet size distribution play an important role in altering Twomey's cooling effect and thereby changes in climate. This study shows that the higher DE in the medium LWC regime offsets the AIE by 30 %.
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