The role of water vapor and cloud feedback on the evolution of the Indian summer monsoon over the last 22,000 years

Author(s):  
Chetankumar Jalihal ◽  
Jayaraman Srinivasan ◽  
Arindam Chakraborty

<p>In the paleo literature, the emphasis has been on the role of insolation in driving monsoons on orbital timescales, but not on the role of feedbacks internal to the climate system. Here, using the energetics framework, we have underscored the effect of water vapor on the Indian summer monsoon over the last 22,000 years in transient climate simulation, called the TraCE-21K. We show that water vapor amplifies the impact of variations in insolation during cold climates like the Last Glacial Maximum. Insolation affects water vapor through its impact on sea surface temperature. During warmer periods like the Holocene, insolation drives monsoon through its influence on the net energy at the top of the atmosphere. Cloud radiative feedbacks are prominent during these periods. Thus, there are two pathways through which insolation drives monsoons. These pathways can be delineated quantitatively using the energetics. We show further that simultaneous variations in greenhouse gases and ice sheets enhance the effect of water vapor on monsoons. Hence, the sensitivity of monsoon to local summer insolation is different during different periods. Our results suggest that feedbacks play a crucial role in the evolution of Indian monsoon on orbital timescales.</p>

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-54

Abstract It has been suggested that summer rainfall over Central Asia (CA) is significantly correlated with the summer thermal distribution of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). However, relatively few studies have investigated their synergistic effects of different distribution. This study documents the significant correlations between precipitation in CA and the diabatic heating of TP and the ISM based on the results of statistical analysis and numerical simulation. Precipitation in CA is is dominated by two water vapor transport branches from the south which are related to the two primary modes of anomalous diabatic heating distribution related to the TP and ISM precipitation, that is, the “+-” dipole mode in the southeastern TP and the Indian subcontinent (IS), and the “+-+” tripole mode in the southeastern TP, the IS, and southern India. Both modes exhibit obvious mid-latitude Silk Road pattern (SRP) wave trains with cyclone anomalies over CA, but with different transient and stationary eddies over south Asia. The different locations of anomalous anticyclones over India govern two water vapor transport branches to CA, which are from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The water vapor flux climbs while being transported northward and can be transported to CA with the cooperation of cyclonic circulation. The convergent water vapor and ascending motion caused by cyclonic anomalies favor the precipitation in CA. Further analysis corroborates the negative South Indian Ocean Dipole (NSIOD) in February could affect the tripole mode distribution of TP heating and ISM via the atmospheric circulation, water vapor transport and an anomalous Hadley cell circulation. The results indicate a reliable prediction reference for precipitation in CA.


2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (16) ◽  
pp. 4466-4479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Wong ◽  
Eric J. Fetzer ◽  
Baijun Tian ◽  
Bjorn Lambrigtsen ◽  
Hengchun Ye

Abstract The possibility of using remote sensing retrievals to estimate apparent water vapor sinks and heat sources is explored. The apparent water vapor sinks and heat sources are estimated from a combination of remote sensing, specific humidity, and temperature from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AIRS) and wind fields from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)’s Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). The intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) of the Indian summer monsoon is used as a test bed to evaluate the apparent water vapor sink and heat source. The ISO-related northward movement of the column-integrated apparent water vapor sink matches that of precipitation observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) minus the MERRA surface evaporation, although the amplitude of the variation is underestimated by 50%. The diagnosed water vapor and heat budgets associated with convective events during various phases of the ISO agree with the moisture–convection feedback mechanism. The apparent heat source moves northward coherently with the apparent water vapor sink associated with the deep convective activity, which is consistent with the northward migration of the precipitation anomaly. The horizontal advection of water vapor and dynamical warming are strong north of the convective area, causing the northward movement of the convection by the destabilization of the atmosphere. The spatial distribution of the apparent heat source anomalies associated with different phases of the ISO is consistent with that of the diabatic heating anomalies from the trained heating (TRAIN Q1) dataset. Further diagnostics of the TRAIN Q1 heating anomalies indicate that the ISO in the apparent heat source is dominated by a variation in latent heating associated with the precipitation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 2075-2089 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Chakraborty ◽  
R. S. Nanjundiah ◽  
J. Srinivasan

Abstract. A theory is proposed to determine the onset of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) in an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM). The onset of ISM is delayed substantially in the absence of global orography. The impact of orography over different parts of the Earth on the onset of ISM has also been investigated using five additional perturbed simulations. The large difference in the date of onset of ISM in these simulations has been explained by a new theory based on the Surface Moist Static Energy (SMSE) and vertical velocity at the mid-troposphere. It is found that onset occurs only after SMSE crosses a threshold value and the large-scale vertical motion in the middle troposphere becomes upward. This study shows that both dynamics and thermodynamics play profound roles in the onset of the monsoon.


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 4149-4169 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Rai ◽  
M. Joshi ◽  
A. P. Dimri ◽  
A. G. Turner

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