EI Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian monsoon rainfall are known to have an inverse relationship, which we have observed in the rainfall spectrum exhibiting a spectral dip in 3-5 y period ...band. It is well documented that El Nino events are known to be associated with deficit rainfall. Our analysis reveals that this spectral dip (3-5 y) is likely to shift to shorter periods (2.5-3 y) in future, suggesting a possible shift in the relationship between ENSO and monsoon rainfall. Spectral analysis of future climate projections by 20 Coupled Model Intercomparison project 5 (CMIP5) models are employed in order to corroborate our findings. Change in spectral dip speculates early occurrence of drought events in future due to multiple factors of global warming.
Over India, heat waves occur during the summer months of April to June. A gridded daily temperature data set for the period, 1961-2013 has been analyzed to examine the variability and trends in heat ...waves over India. For identifying heat waves, the Excess Heat Factor (EHF) and 90(th) percentile of maximum temperatures were used. Over central and northwestern parts of the country, frequency, total duration and maximum duration of heat waves are increasing. Anomalous persistent high with anti-cyclonic flow, supplemented with clear skies and depleted soil moisture are primarily responsible for the occurrence of heat waves over India. Variability of heat waves over India is influenced by both the tropical Indian Ocean and central Pacific SST anomalies. The warming of the tropical Indian Ocean and more frequent El Nino events in future may further lead to more frequent and longer lasting heat waves over India.
Socioeconomic challenges continue to mount for half a billion residents of central India because of a decline in the total rainfall and a concurrent rise in the magnitude and frequency of extreme ...rainfall events. Alongside a weakening monsoon circulation, the locally available moisture and the frequency of moisture-laden depressions from the Bay of Bengal have also declined. Here we show that despite these negative trends, there is a threefold increase in widespread extreme rain events over central India during 1950-2015. The rise in these events is due to an increasing variability of the low-level monsoon westerlies over the Arabian Sea, driving surges of moisture supply, leading to extreme rainfall episodes across the entire central subcontinent. The homogeneity of these severe weather events and their association with the ocean temperatures underscores the potential predictability of these events by two-to-three weeks, which offers hope in mitigating their catastrophic impact on life, agriculture and property.Against the backdrop of a declining monsoon, the number of extreme rain events is on the rise over central India. Here the authors identify a threefold increase in widespread extreme rains over the region during 1950-2015, driven by an increasing variability of the low-level westerlies over the Arabian Sea.
Trends in the rainfall pattern over India Guhathakurta, P.; Rajeevan, M.
International journal of climatology,
September 2008, Letnik:
28, Številka:
11
Journal Article
In this study, analysis of the long term climatology, variability and trends in the daily rainfall events of ≥5 mm or daily rainfall (DR) events during the southwest monsoon season (June–September) ...over four regions of India; south central India (SCI), north central India (NCI), northeast India (NEI) and west coast (WC) have been presented. For this purpose, a new high spatial resolution (0.25° × 0.25°) daily gridded rainfall data set covering 110 years (1901–2010) over the Indian main land has been used. The association of monsoon low pressure systems (LPSs) with the DR events of various intensities has also been examined. Major portion of the rainfall over these regions during the season was received in the form of medium rainfall (≥5–100 mm) or moderate rainfall (MR) events. The mean seasonal cycle of the daily frequency of heavy rainfall (HR) (≥100–150 mm) or HR events and very heavy rainfall (VHR) (≥150 mm) or VHR events over each of the four regions showed peak at different parts of the season. The peak in the mean daily HR and VHR events occurred during middle of July to middle of August over SCI, during late part of June to early part of July over NCI, during middle of June to early July over NEI, and during late June to middle July over WC. Significant long term trends in the frequency and intensity of the DR events were observed in all the four geographical regions. Whereas the intensity of the DR events over all the four regions showed significant positive trends during the second half and the total period, the signs and magnitude of the long term trends in the frequency of the various categories of DR events during the total period and its two halves differed from the region to the region. The trend analysis revealed increased disaster potential for instant flooding over SCI and NCI during the recent years due to significant increasing trends in the frequency (areal coverage) and intensity of the HR and VHR events during the recent half of the data period. However, there is increased disaster potential over NEI and WC due to the increasing trends in the intensity of the rainfall events. There is strong association between the LPS days and the DR events in both the spatial and temporal scales. In all the four regions, the contributions to the total MR events by the LPS days were nearly equal. On the other hand, there was relatively large regional difference in the number of combined HR and VHR events associated with LPS days particularly that associated with monsoon depression (LPS stronger than monsoon depression) days. The possible reasons for the same have also been discussed. The increasing trend in the monsoon low (low pressure) days post 1970s is the primary reason for the observed significant increasing trends in the HR and VHR events over SCI and NCI and decreasing trend in HR events over NEI during the recent half (1956–2010). This is in spite of the decreasing trend in the MD days.
In this paper, we suggest criteria for the identification of active and break events of the Indian summer monsoon on the basis of recently derived high resolution daily gridded rainfall dataset over ...India (1951–2007). Active and break events are defined as periods during the peak monsoon months of July and August, in which the normalized anomaly of the rainfall over a critical area, called the monsoon core zone exceeds 1 or is less than −1.0 respectively, provided the criterion is satisfied for at least three consecutive days. We elucidate the major features of these events. We consider very briefly the relationship of the intraseasonal fluctuations between these events and the interannual variation of the summer monsoon rainfall.
We find that breaks tend to have a longer life-span than active spells. While, almost 80% of the active spells lasted 3–4 days, only 40% of the break spells were of such short duration. A small fraction (9%) of active spells and 32% of break spells lasted for a week or longer. While active events occurred almost every year, not a single break occurred in 26% of the years considered. On an average, there are 7 days of active and break events from July through August. There are no significant trends in either the days of active or break events. We have shown that there is a major difference between weak spells and long intense breaks. While weak spells are characterized by weak moist convective regimes, long intense break events have a heat trough type circulation which is similar to the circulation over the Indian subcontinent before the onset of the monsoon.
The space-time evolution of the rainfall composite patterns suggests that the revival from breaks occurs primarily from northward propagations of the convective cloud zone. There are important differences between the spatial patterns of the active/break spells and those characteristic of interannual variation, particularly those associated with the link to ENSO. Hence, the interannual variation of the Indian monsoon cannot be considered as primarily arising from the interannual variation of intraseasonal variation. However, the signature over the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean on intraseasonal time scales is similar to that on the interannual time scales.
In this study, using 104 years (1901–2004) of high resolution daily gridded rainfall data, variability and long‐term trends of extreme rainfall events over central India have been examined. Frequency ...of extreme rainfall events shows significant inter‐annual and inter‐decadal variations in addition to a statistically significant long term trend of 6% per decade. Detailed analysis shows that inter‐annual, inter‐decadal and long‐term trends of extreme rainfall events are modulated by the SST variations over the tropical Indian Ocean. The present study supports the hypothesis that the increasing trend of extreme rainfall events in the last five decades could be associated with the increasing trend of sea surface temperatures and surface latent heat flux over the tropical Indian Ocean. In the global warming scenario, the coherent relationship between Indian Ocean SST and extreme rainfall events suggests an increase in the risk of major floods over central India.
Past studies using observational data suggested an increase in day time temperatures and frequency and duration of heat waves over India during the pre-monsoon season (April–June). In this study, the ...characteristics (frequency and duration) of heat waves over India in future warming scenario has been examined using nine CMIP5 models. The RCP4.5 scenario and the period 2020–2064 were used for the analysis to examine the possible changes in the characteristics of heat waves. In spite of moderate biases in day time temperatures, the CMIP5 models showed modest skill in realistic simulation of observed heat waves in terms of spatial pattern and frequency. The models suggest an increase of about two heat waves and increase of 12–18 days in heat wave duration during the period 2020–2064. In the future climate change scenario, southern parts of India and coastal part of India which are presently unaffected by heat waves, are likely to be affected by heat waves. The spatial trend analysis of Heat Wave frequency (HWF) and Heat wave Duration (HWD) suggested that both the HWF and HWD will increase significantly over central and northwest India by 0.5 events per decade and 4–7 days per decade respectively. The study also suggests that the future increase in heat waves is caused due to strengthening of mid-tropospheric high and associated subsidence over central and northwest India. Land surface processes like depletion of soil moisture and increased sensible heat fluxes are also responsible for the increase in heat waves. The CMIP5 models also suggest that El Nino Modoki events may be responsible for the prolonged and more frequent future heat waves over India in the future climate scenario.
Anatomy of Indian heatwaves Ratnam, J V; Behera, Swadhin K; Ratna, Satyaban B ...
Scientific reports,
04/2016, Letnik:
6, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
India suffers from major heatwaves during March-June. The rising trend of number of intense heatwaves in recent decades has been vaguely attributed to global warming. Since the heat waves have a ...serious effect on human mortality, root causes of these heatwaves need to be clarified. Based on the observed patterns and statistical analyses of the maximum temperature variability, we identified two types of heatwaves. The first-type of heatwave over the north-central India is found to be associated with blocking over the North Atlantic. The blocking over North Atlantic results in a cyclonic anomaly west of North Africa at upper levels. The stretching of vorticity generates a Rossby wave source of anomalous Rossby waves near the entrance of the African Jet. The resulting quasi-stationary Rossby wave-train along the Jet has a positive phase over Indian subcontinent causing anomalous sinking motion and thereby heatwave conditions over India. On the other hand, the second-type of heatwave over the coastal eastern India is found to be due to the anomalous Matsuno-Gill response to the anomalous cooling in the Pacific. The Matsuno-Gill response is such that it generates northwesterly anomalies over the landmass reducing the land-sea breeze, resulting in heatwaves.
IMDAA Rani, S. Indira; Arulalan, T.; George, John P. ...
Journal of climate,
06/2021, Letnik:
34, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A high-resolution regional reanalysis of the Indian Monsoon Data Assimilation and Analysis (IMDAA) project is made available to researchers for deeper understanding of the Indian monsoon and its ...variability. This 12-km resolution reanalysis covering the satellite era from 1979 to 2018 using a 4D-Var data assimilation method and the U.K. Met Office Unified Model is presently the highest resolution atmospheric reanalysis carried out for the Indian monsoon region. Conventional and satellite observations from different sources are used, including Indian surface and upper air observations, of which some had not been used in any previous reanalyses. Various aspects of this reanalysis, including quality control and bias correction of observations, data assimilation system, land surface analysis, and verification of reanalysis products, are presented in this paper. Representation of important weather phenomena of each season over India in the IMDAA reanalysis verifies reasonably well against India Meteorological Department (IMD) observations and compares closely with ERA5. Salient features of the Indian summer monsoon are found to be well represented in the IMDAA reanalysis. Characteristics of major semipermanent summer monsoon features (e.g., low-level jet and tropical easterly jet) in IMDAA reanalysis are consistent with ERA5. The IMDAA reanalysis has captured the mean, interannual, and intraseasonal variability of summer monsoon rainfall fairly well. IMDAA produces a slightly cooler winter and a hotter summer than the observations; the reverse is true for ERA5. IMDAA captured the fine-scale features associated with a notable heavy rainfall episode over complex terrain. In this study, the fine grid spacing nature of IMDAA is compromised due to the lack of comparable resolution observations for verification.