scholarly journals The Indian summer monsoon in MetUM-GOML2.0: effects of air–sea coupling and resolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 4693-4709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon C. Peatman ◽  
Nicholas P. Klingaman

Abstract. The fidelity of the simulated Indian summer monsoon is analysed in the UK Met Office Unified Model Global Ocean Mixed Layer configuration (MetUM-GOML2.0) in terms of its boreal summer mean state and propagation of the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO). The model produces substantial biases in mean June–September precipitation, especially over India, in common with other MetUM configurations. Using a correction technique to constrain the mean seasonal cycle of ocean temperature and salinity, the effects of regional air–sea coupling and atmospheric horizontal resolution are investigated. Introducing coupling in the Indian Ocean degrades the atmospheric basic state compared with prescribing the observed seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature (SST). This degradation of the mean state is attributable to small errors (±0.5 ∘C) in mean SST. Coupling slightly improves some aspects of the simulation of northward BSISO propagation over the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and India, but degrades others. Increasing resolution from 200 to 90 km grid spacing (approximate value at the Equator) improves the atmospheric mean state, but increasing resolution again to 40 km offers no substantial improvement. The improvement to intraseasonal propagation at finer resolution is similar to that due to coupling.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon C. Peatman ◽  
Nicholas P. Klingaman

Abstract. The fidelity of the simulated Indian Summer Monsoon is analysed in the UK Met Office Unified Model Global Ocean Mixed Layer configuration (MetUM-GOML2.0), in terms of its boreal summer mean state and propagation of the Boreal Summer IntraSeasonal Oscillation (BSISO). The model produces substantial biases in mean June--September precipitation, especially over India, in common with other MetUM configurations. Using a correction technique to constrain the mean seasonal cycle of ocean temperature and salinity, the effects of regional air-sea coupling and atmospheric horizontal resolution are investigated. Introducing coupling in the Indian Ocean degrades the atmospheric basic state, compared with prescribing the observed seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature (SST). This degradation of the mean state is attributable to small errors (±0.5 C) in mean SST. However, coupling slightly improves the simulation of northward BSISO propagation over the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and India. Increasing resolution from 200 km to 90 km grid spacing (approximate value at the equator) improves the atmospheric mean state, but increasing resolution again to 40~km offers no substantial improvement. The improvement to intraseasonal propagation at finer resolution is similar to that due to coupling.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 11973-11990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Fiehn ◽  
Birgit Quack ◽  
Irene Stemmler ◽  
Franziska Ziska ◽  
Kirstin Krüger

Abstract. Oceanic very short-lived substances (VSLSs), such as bromoform (CHBr3), contribute to stratospheric halogen loading and, thus, to ozone depletion. However, the amount, timing, and region of bromine delivery to the stratosphere through one of the main entrance gates, the Indian summer monsoon circulation, are still uncertain. In this study, we created two bromoform emission inventories with monthly resolution for the tropical Indian Ocean and west Pacific based on new in situ bromoform measurements and novel ocean biogeochemistry modeling. The mass transport and atmospheric mixing ratios of bromoform were modeled for the year 2014 with the particle dispersion model FLEXPART driven by ERA-Interim reanalysis. We compare results between two emission scenarios: (1) monthly averaged and (2) annually averaged emissions. Both simulations reproduce the atmospheric distribution of bromoform from ship- and aircraft-based observations in the boundary layer and upper troposphere above the Indian Ocean reasonably well. Using monthly resolved emissions, the main oceanic source regions for the stratosphere include the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal in boreal summer and the tropical west Pacific Ocean in boreal winter. The main stratospheric injection in boreal summer occurs over the southern tip of India associated with the high local oceanic sources and strong convection of the summer monsoon. In boreal winter more bromoform is entrained over the west Pacific than over the Indian Ocean. The annually averaged stratospheric injection of bromoform is in the same range whether using monthly averaged or annually averaged emissions in our Lagrangian calculations. However, monthly averaged emissions result in the highest mixing ratios within the Asian monsoon anticyclone in boreal summer and above the central Indian Ocean in boreal winter, while annually averaged emissions display a maximum above the west Indian Ocean in boreal spring. In the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone bromoform atmospheric mixing ratios vary by up to 50 % between using monthly averaged and annually averaged oceanic emissions. Our results underline that the seasonal and regional stratospheric bromine injection from the tropical Indian Ocean and west Pacific critically depend on the seasonality and spatial distribution of the VSLS emissions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 2055-2067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhou ◽  
Raghu Murtugudde ◽  
Dake Chen ◽  
Youmin Tang

A central Indian Ocean (CIO) mode is found to play a critical role in driving the heavy precipitation during the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). It is typically denoted with a combination of intraseasonal sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and intraseasonal wind anomalies over the central Indian Ocean, and it preserves the mechanistic links among various dynamic and thermodynamic fields. Like a T junction, it controls the propagation direction of the intraseasonal variabilities (ISVs) originating in the western Indian Ocean. During the ISM, the CIO mode creates an environment favorable for the northward-propagating mesoscale variabilities. These results unveil the relation between the subseasonal monsoonal precipitation and the CIO mode in the ocean–atmosphere system in the Indian Ocean. The identification of the CIO mode deepens our understanding of the coupled monsoon system and brightens the prospects for better simulation and prediction of monsoonal precipitation in the affected countries.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charan Teja Tejavath ◽  
Karumuri Ashok ◽  
Supriyo Chakraborty ◽  
Rengaswamy Ramesh

Abstract. Using seven model simulations from the PMIP3, we study the mean summer (June–September) climate and its variability in India during the Last Millennium (LM; CE 850–1849) with emphasis on the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA), after validation of the simulated current day climate and trends. We find that the above (below) LM-mean summer global temperatures during the MWP (LIA) are associated with relatively higher (lower) number of concurrent El Niños as compared to La Niñas. The models simulate higher (lower) Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) during the MWP (LIA). This is notwithstanding a strong simulated negative correlation between the timeseries of NINO3.4 index and that of the area-averaged ISMR, Interestingly, the percentage of strong El Niños (La Niñas) causing negative (positive) ISMR anomalies is higher in the LIA (MWP), a non-linearity that apparently is important for causing higher ISMR in the MWP. Distribution of simulated boreal summer velocity potential at 850 hPa during MWP in models, in general, shows a zone of anomalous convergence in the central tropical Pacific flanked by two zones of divergence, suggesting a westward shift in the Walker circulation as compared to the simulations for LM as well as and a majority of historical simulations, and current day observed signal. The anomalous divergence centre in the west also extends into the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean, resulting in an anomalous convergence zone over India and therefore excess rainfall during the MWP as compared to the LM; the results are qualitative, given the inter-model spread.


2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 3190-3209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisan Yu ◽  
Xiangze Jin ◽  
Robert A. Weller

Abstract This study investigated the accuracy and physical representation of air–sea surface heat flux estimates for the Indian Ocean on annual, seasonal, and interannual time scales. Six heat flux products were analyzed, including the newly developed latent and sensible heat fluxes from the Objectively Analyzed Air–Sea Heat Fluxes (OAFlux) project and net shortwave and longwave radiation results from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), the heat flux analysis from the Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC), the National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis 1 (NCEP1) and reanalysis-2 (NCEP2) datasets, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts operational (ECMWF-OP) and 40-yr Re-Analysis (ERA-40) products. This paper presents the analysis of the six products in depicting the mean, the seasonal cycle, and the interannual variability of the net heat flux into the ocean. Two time series of in situ flux measurements, one taken from a 1-yr Arabian Sea Experiment field program and the other from a 1-month Joint Air–Sea Monsoon Interaction Experiment (JASMINE) field program in the Bay of Bengal were used to evaluate the statistical properties of the flux products over the measurement periods. The consistency between the six products on seasonal and interannual time scales was investigated using a standard deviation analysis and a physically based correlation analysis. The study has three findings. First of all, large differences exist in the mean value of the six heat flux products. Part of the differences may be attributable to the bias in the numerical weather prediction (NWP) models that underestimates the net heat flux into the Indian Ocean. Along the JASMINE ship tracks, the four NWP modeled mean fluxes all have a sign opposite to the observations, with NCEP1 being underestimated by 53 W m−2 (the least biased) and ECMWF-OP by 108 W m−2 (the most biased). At the Arabian Sea buoy site, the NWP mean fluxes also have an underestimation bias, with the smallest bias of 26 W m−2 (ERA-40) and the largest bias of 69 W m−2 (NCEP1). On the other hand, the OAFlux+ISCCP has the best comparison at both measurement sites. Second, the bias effect changes with the time scale. Despite the fact that the mean is biased significantly, there is no major bias in the seasonal cycle of all the products except for ECMWF-OP. The latter does not have a fixed mean due to the frequent updates of the model platform. Finally, among the four products (OAFlux+ISCCP, ERA-40, NCEP1, and NCEP2) that can be used for studying interannual variability, OAFlux+ISCCP and ERA-40 Qnet have good consistency as judged from both statistical and physical measures. NCEP1 shows broad agreement with the two products, with varying details. By comparison, NCEP2 is the least representative of the Qnet variabilities over the basin scale.


2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2147-2164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renguang Wu ◽  
Ben P. Kirtman

Abstract The biennial variability is a large component of year-to-year variations in the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). Previous studies have shown that El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) plays an important role in the biennial variability of the ISM. The present study investigates the role of the Indian Ocean in the biennial transition of the ISM when the Pacific ENSO is absent. The influence of the Indian and Pacific Oceans on the biennial transition between the ISM and the Australian summer monsoon (ASM) is also examined. Controlled numerical experiments with a coupled general circulation model (CGCM) are used to address the above two issues. The CGCM captures the in-phase ISM to ASM transition (i.e., a wet ISM followed by a wet ASM or a dry ISM followed by a dry ASM) and the out-of-phase ASM to ISM transition (i.e., a wet ASM followed by a dry ISM or a dry ASM followed by a wet ISM). These transitions are more frequent than the out-of-phase ISM to ASM transition and the in-phase ASM to ISM transition in the coupled model, consistent with observations. The results of controlled coupled model experiments indicate that both the Indian and Pacific Ocean air–sea coupling are important for properly simulating the biennial transition between the ISM and ASM in the CGCM. The biennial transition of the ISM can occur through local air–sea interactions in the north Indian Ocean when the Pacific ENSO is suppressed. The local sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies induce the Indian monsoon transition through low-level moisture convergence. Surface evaporation anomalies, which are largely controlled by surface wind speed changes, play an important role for SST changes. Different from local air–sea interaction mechanisms proposed in previous studies, the atmospheric feedback is not strong enough to reverse the SST anomalies immediately at the end of the monsoon season. Instead, the reversal of the SST anomalies is accomplished in the spring of the following year, which in turn leads to the Indian monsoon transition.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalisa Cherchi ◽  
Pascal Terray ◽  
Satyaban Bishoyi Ratna ◽  
Virna Meccia ◽  
Sooraj K.P.

<p>The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is one of the dominant modes of variability of the tropical Indian Ocean and it has been suggested to have a crucial role in the teleconnection between the Indian summer monsoon and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The main ideas at the base of the influence of the IOD on the ENSO-monsoon teleconnection include the possibility that it may strengthen summer rainfall over India, as well as the opposite, and also that it may produce a remote forcing on ENSO itself. The Indian Ocean has been experiencing a warming, larger than any other basins, since the 1950s. During these decades, the summer monsoon rainfall over India decreased and the frequency of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events increased. In the future the IOD is projected to further increase in frequency and amplitude with mean conditions mimicking the characteristics of its positive phase. Still, state of the art global climate models have large biases in representing IOD and monsoon mean state and variability, with potential consequences for properties and related teleconnections projected in the future. This works collects a review study of the influence of the IOD on the ISM and its relationship with ENSO, as well as new results on IOD projections comparing CMIP5 and CMIP6 models.</p>


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