scholarly journals Contrasting movement of wind based equatorial trough and equatorial cloud zone over Indian southern peninsula and adjoining Bay of Bengal during the onset phase of northeast monsoon

MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Y. E. A. RAJ ◽  
R. ASOKAN ◽  
P. V. REVIKUMAR

ABSTRACT. The northeast monsoon sets in over southern parts of peninsular India after the retreat of southwest monsoon and in association with the southward movement of equatorial trough. The INSAT satellite imageries scrutinised during the past several years revealed that the cloud bands at the time of northeast monsoon onset moved from south Bay into the southern peninsula, a feature that contrasts with the north to south movement of the equatorial trough. The paper investigates this aspect based on a dataset of lower level upper winds of the peninsula, rainfall data and INSAT OLR data for the 20 year period 1981–2000. The super epoch profiles of zonal winds, latitudinal position of equatorial trough with reference to northeast monsoon onset dates have been derived and studied. The region with OLR values less than 230 W/m2 was defined as the equatorial cloud zone and the movement of northern limit of ECZ was studied based on the normal pentad OLR data and also the superposed epoch profiles. From these analysis it has been established that at the time of northeast monsoon onset, the wind based equatorial trough moves south of Comorin whereas the cloud zone in the Bay of Bengal moves from south to north. Reasons for the occurrence of such a contrasting feature have been ascribed to features such as decreasing strength of lower level easterlies from north to south over coastal Tamil Nadu, reversal of temperature gradient between Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram at the time of onset and the dynamics of 40-day oscillation. The northeast monsoon activity over coastal Tamil Nadu has been found to be negatively correlated with the low level zonal winds over the coast, the degree of relation decreasing from north to south and also from October to December. Based on the results derived in the study and also the other known features of northeast monsoon a thematic model of northeast monsoon onset listing the events that precede and succeed the onset has been postulated.

MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-520
Author(s):  
B. GEETHA ◽  
Y. E. A. RAJ

The relation between the intensity of Siberian High, defined as the mean sea level pressure over the Siberian region bounded by 87.5 & 102.5° E longitudes and 47.5 & 52.5° N latitudes (PSH) and Indian northeast monsoon rainfall has been studied in antecedent and concurrent modes based on monthly/seasonal mean PSH and monthly/seasonal rainfall data of Tamil Nadu (NMR) for the 34 year period, 1971 to 2004. It has been found that a positive relationship exists between the PSH and NMR of October-November (ON) which is significant in the antecedent mode [PSH(AS/Sep)] and modest in concurrent mode. The relationship turns negative for NMR (Dec) with both PSH(Sep) (antecedent) and PSH(Dec) (concurrent).  By and large, negative anomaly profile of PSH during September-November (SON) followed by a positive PSH (Dec) anomaly is associated with a deficient NMR, but, a normal to positive PSH anomaly profile in SON becoming  negative in December is associated with an excess NMR. The manifestation of PSH on NMR has been shown to be by way of modulating the strength of low level easterlies over the Bay of Bengal off the southeast coast of peninsular India as well as the latitudinal positions of Sub Tropical Ridge at 200 hPa (STR) and Equatorial Trough at 850 hPa (ET) over India.  An intense PSH (Sep) is associated with strengthening of easterlies over the Bay of Bengal as well as southward location of STR/ET thereby favouring  a good NMR (ON).  During December, a weaker than normal PSH (Dec) is associated with northward location of ET from its normal latitudinal position near the equator which becomes conducive for good NMR(Dec). That a weaker than normal PSH in December is associated with good NMR(Dec) is comprehended from an analysis of time series of PSH.  It has been found that the PSH itself undergoes a phase change in December on most occasions, i.e., an intense PSH (Nov) is by and large, followed by a weaker than normal PSH (Dec) and vice versa.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-570
Author(s):  
B. AMUDHA ◽  
Y. E. A. RAJ ◽  
R. ASOKAN

South Peninsular India (SPI) benefits largely from the rainfall (RF) realised during the North East Monsoon (NEM) season that prevails from October to December spilling over to January in some of the years.  Salient aspects of clouding / RF over SPI associated with 13 NEM seasons from 2000-01 to 2012-13 have been analysed using estimates of Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) at 1° × 1° resolution derived from the radiance observations in the infra-red channel onboard the geostationary operational Indian satellite (INSAT) radiometers. OLR is considered as a proxy indicator for convective activity with the value of 230 Wm-2  as the threshold for RF occurrence. Year-to-year mean OLR patterns of the NEM season along with the latitudinal and longitudinal variabilities were analysed for dry, light and active phases of NEM. Based on rigorous analysis of INSAT OLR data for the above 13 years, it has been shown that during the active phase of NEM, Coastal Tamil Nadu (CTN) receives more RF while over BoB the RF is lower and decreases sharply over interior Tamil Nadu. This is a reiteration of a similar result from an earlier study based on 3 years (1996-98) OLR data from polar orbiting NOAA satellites. The spatial variation in OLR over the latitudes of 10.5, 12.5 and 14.5° N along  the longitudes of 75.5-85.5° E  has revealed the feature that  north of 10.5° N, values of OLR are higher with decrease in RF from south to north.  During dry phase of NEM in December and January, higher OLR is observed over northern latitudes of BoB than southern latitudes. It has been comprehended that in the southern latitudes of BoB, where higher sea surface temperatures (SST) are prevalent, more moisture is generated and pumped in to upper levels of the atmosphere leading to lower values of OLR compared to northern latitudes.  


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-354
Author(s):  
U. S. DE ◽  
R. K. MUKHOPADHYAY

Northeast monsoon precipitation data of 5 meteorological sub-divisions in India, spanning the period 1901-97, were analysed to identify the effect of ENSO/Anti ENSO events on the rainfall over southern peninsular India. ENSO/Anti ENSO years were selected on the basis of seasonal Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). The analysis revealed that ENSO years were generally associated with enhanced northeast monsoon precipitation while there was reduced precipitation during Anti ENSO years, the reduction in Anti ENSO years being significant for Tamil Nadu (at 0.1% level), for Kerala (at 1% level) and for South Peninsular India (at 1% level). Of 22 ENSO years, 18 years were found to be either flood or wet years, while 11 years out of 15 Anti ENSO years were found to be either drought or dry years.   During ENSO years, the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies both over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal were positive during the months October to December, while the reverse was the case during Anti ENSO years. A concurrent significant positive correlation was noted between SST over east central Arabian Sea and the north central Bay regions and northeast monsoon rainfall.   The cyclonic systems were observed to form relatively at lower latitudes during ENSO years as compared to those during Anti ENSO years. These systems were also found to move in a more westerly direction, hit Tamil Nadu and south Andhra coast, thus giving more rain over peninsula during ENSO years. The ridge line at 200 hPa level during ENSO years was located 3° south as compared to its location during Anti ENSO years.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-376
Author(s):  
B. AMUDHA ◽  
Y. E. A. RAJ ◽  
R. ASOKAN

Characteristics of the northeast monsoon (NEM) have been studied utilising the outgoing long wave radiation (OLR) data derived over the north Indian Ocean and south peninsular India (SPI) from the series of Indian geostationary satellites. The contrasting feature of movement of the equatorial cloud zone from southeast to northwest direction during the onset phase of NEM has been reiterated using 1° × 1° gridded high resolution OLR data for the period 2000-2012.  Presence of OLR values less than 180 Wm-2 over a large part of coastal Tamil Nadu on the date of onset and the simultaneous commencement of rainfall with clouding approaching SPI from southeast is clear from the study of superposed epoch analysis of the data. Triad means of OLR also substantiate this inference. During active spells of NEM which succeed prolonged dry spells, replication of the south to north movement of clouding by the OLR contours and the plausible reasons for such a movement have been brought out. The active monsoon situation existing over Sri Lankan region during the withdrawal phase of NEM over SPI is demonstrated with the depiction of the movement of OLR contours less than 230 Wm-2 over the region.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8303
Author(s):  
Vu Tuan Anh ◽  
Pham Ba Trung ◽  
Kim-Anh Nguyen ◽  
Yuei-An Liou ◽  
Minh-Thu Phan

This paper aims to identify the causes and sources of erosion and deposition at small estuaries in southern central Vietnam under human intervention. The jetty built at the Tam Quan river mouth (Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam) serves as the base for the study. After its completion at the end of 2009, the hydrodynamic and erosion-deposition processes in the region have been significantly altered. Inside the estuary, the waves are not influenced, but the currents are increased during the ebb tide period and decreased during the flood tide timeframe. During the southwest monsoon, the jetty could cause an increase in the deposition process in both frequency and area, whereas the erosion process tends to narrow the area and increase the frequency on the north coast. In contrast, both deposition and erosion processes are increased on the southern coast. About 5859 m3 of sediments are deposited in the channel gate mainly by local sources. During the northeast monsoon, both deposition and erosion processes are located over a narrow area with frequency increased on the north coast, whereas the deposition process is narrowed with higher frequency on the southern coast. The total amount of sediment deposited at the estuary is 56,446 m3, of which 74.2% is from the onsite erosion material, 15.8% from the river and 10% from the longshore transportation. Generally, due to mainly erosion-deposition processes, sediment volume is accumulated during the northeast monsoon with amount 9.6 times more than that the southwest monsoon. The erosion-deposition processes are contributed to by poor practical management and local human activities inland and in the coastal regions, as well as the natural situation, resulting in serious impacts on society, the economy and the environment. Hence, the governance of the erosion-deposition processes and sediment load in small estuaries appear to contribute to the master plan for the local sustainable development of society and the economy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 3209-3238 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Wijesekera ◽  
W. J. Teague ◽  
D. W. Wang ◽  
E. Jarosz ◽  
T. G. Jensen ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh-resolution currents and hydrographic fields were measured at six deep-water moorings in the southern Bay of Bengal (BoB) by the Naval Research Laboratory as part of an international effort focused on the dynamics of the Indian Ocean. Currents, temperature, and salinity were sampled over the upper 500 m for 20 months between December 2013 and August 2015. One of the major goals is to understand the space–time scales of the currents and physical processes that contribute to the exchange of water between the BoB and the Arabian Sea. The observations captured Southwest and Northeast Monsoon Currents, seasonally varying large eddies including a cyclonic eddy, the Sri Lanka dome (SLD), and an anticyclonic eddy southeast of the SLD. The observations further showed intraseasonal oscillations with periods of 30–70 days, near-inertial currents, and tides. Monthly averaged velocities commonly exceeded 50 cm s−1 near the surface, and extreme velocities exceeded 150 cm s−1 during the southwest monsoon. Tides were small and dominated by the M2 component with velocities of about 3 cm s−1. The average transport into the BoB over the measurement period was 2 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) but likely exceeded 15 Sv during summer of 2014. This study suggests the water exchange away from coastal boundaries, in the interior of the BoB, may be largely influenced by the location and strength of the two eddies that modify the path of the Southwest Monsoon Current. In addition, there is a pathway below 200 m for transport of water into the BoB throughout the year.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 524-530
Author(s):  
N. K Sathyamoorthy ◽  
R Jagannathan ◽  
A. P Ramaraj

Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts of Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) depend on canal irrigation for agriculture and are subjected to the vagaries of monsoon. This creates water crisis and affects agriculture of the region considered as rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. This necessitated the study of rainfall to plan and mitigate water scarcity. Rainfall data from Adhirampattinam, Aduthurai stations of Thanjavur district (Inland) and Nagapattinam station (Coastal area of Nagapattinam district) were utilized for the study. Normal rainfall of CDZ is 956 mm; Nagapattinam receives highest (1350 mm) and aduthurai (994 mm) recorded lowest. November is the wettest month for all locations while driest month differs among locations. Northeast monsoon (NEM) was considered as stable monsoon for CDZ as could be seen from the seasonal mean of 641 mm, 620 mm and 919 mm recorded by Adhirampattinam, Aduthurai and Nagapattinam, respectively. Trend analysis of seasons revealed that Adhirampattinam and Nagapattinam follow a decreasing trend for rainfall and rainydays during NEM and Southwest monsoon (SWM), with an increasing trend for Hot weather period (HWP) and Cold weather period (CWP). An interesting deviation is that Aduthurai recording an increasing trend for NEM while it followed same trend for HWP and SWM.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-512
Author(s):  
SATYANARAYANA G C ◽  
NAIDU C V ◽  
RAO D V BHASKAR ◽  
UMAKANTH N ◽  
NAVEENA N

The onset dates of the northeast monsoon over South Peninsular India are determined using the wind data at 850 hPa and 200 hPa, OLR, mean sea level pressure data for the domain 40° E to 120° E, 0° to 40° N.  These three data sets are sourced from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis daily data sets. Further the daily grid point (0.25° Lat. × 0.25° Long.) rainfall data over India from Indian Meteorological Department is considered for delineation of rainfall pattern. The total length of the data of the above mentioned parameters is 21 years (1994 to 2014).                  Pentad distributions of the above parameters for the domain  considered  are prepared for examining the circulation patterns and rainfall activity. The pentads taken for the study are from 55th (28th September - 2nd October) pentad to 65th (17-21 November) pentad. In the determination of the northeast monsoon over South Peninsular India, the following points are considered: (i) The persistence of the northeasterlies at 850 hPa level, (ii) Occurrence of the rainfall over the South Peninsular India, (iii) Presence of east-west oriented trough [Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)] in the lower latitudes from Ethiopia region to Malaysia region passing through South Arabian Sea, southern region of South Peninsular India and South Bay of Bengal,  (iv) The presence of low pressure over the southwest Bay of Bengal at the surface, (v) Persistence of a high pressure zone in northern latitudes of India (extending from the Saudi Arabia/Jordan region to the Head Bay of Bengal running through North Arabian Sea, Gujarat and Orissa), (vi) Presence of subtropical ridge at 200 hPa level around 17.5° N, (vii) Presence of north-south ridge over theeastern parts of China and (viii) Presence of relatively low OLR values over South Peninsular India when compared to the northern latitudes.                 If any pentad satisfies the above points, the middle date of the pentad is considered as the date of onset of northeast monsoon over South Peninsular India.  If any pentad satisfies all the points except point number 2, importance is given to the persistence of northeasterlies and the middle date of the pentad will be declared as the onset date.  By following the criteria, the dates of onset of northeast monsoon are determined for the latest 21 years.  These dates are compared with those of the India Meteorological Department.


Author(s):  
G. Senbagavalli ◽  
N. K. Sathyamoorthy ◽  
Ga. Dheebakaran ◽  
Patil Santosh Ganapati ◽  
S. Kokilavani ◽  
...  

Rainfall prediction are vital for agriculture which is one of the primary sectors greatly affected by climate variability and extremes. Agriculture plays a vital role in shaping the economy of India which is often affected by monsoon. Sea surface temperature (SST) plays a vital role in rainfall predictability over the land surface. A total of twelve different domains of oceanic influences of SST on monsoon rainfall over Tamil Nadu were selected for analysis. The SST of different lead times (February, March, April, and May for southwest monsoon (SWM) and June, July, August, and September for northeast monsoon (NEM) from the ERSSTv5 and ECMWF-SEAS5 model with the Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) were used in the Climate Predictability Tool (CPT) to identify the best predictor domains for the prediction of SWM and NEM rainfall over Tamil Nadu. The model training utilized the first 40 years (1981-2020) SST and rainfall data and prediction was done for the 2021 seasons. The results of the study revealed from Kendall tau goodness index and CCA score, the predictor domains comprised of a combination of oceanic domains, this were the Indian, Arabian, Bay of Bengal, and Pacific Oceans recorded the best CCA score and the goodness index. Is therefore recommended that, these domains which have the highest overall predictability can be used by the National meteorological services to early warning and monsoon rainfall information over Tamil Nadu.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Sarangi

A relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and surface nitrate concentrations has been obtained for the first time based on in situ datasets retrieved from U.S. JGOFS (1991–96) and Indian cruises (2000–2006) in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean region around the southern Indian tip. The dataset includes 1537 points. A sigmoid relationship obtained with value 0.912. NOAA-AVHRR pathfinder satellite monthly averaged SST data retrieved from the PODAAC/JPL/NASA archive during July 1999–June 2004. The datasets imported in the ERDAS-Imagine software and SST images generated on monthly and seasonal scales, for latitudes 5–12°N and longitudes 75–85°E. The ocean surface nitrate images retrieved based on the established sigmoid relationship with SST. The nitrate concentrations ranged between 0.01–3.0 μM and categorized into five ranges. The significant seasonal upwelling zone around the southwest coast of India (Kerala coast, Latitude 80.10–9.30°N and Longitude 75.60–76.20°E) was identified during July–September 1999–2004 with very high nitrate concentration (~1.00 μM). Low nitrate and nitrate-depleted zones observed during summer (March–May). In the Arabian Sea and northern Indian Ocean, high nitrate concentration (~0.50 μM) observed during the southwest monsoon (SWM), whereas the Bay of Bengal was marked with high nitrate (~0.50 μM) during the northeast monsoon (NEM). SST was high (~29°C) in the Bay of Bengal and low (~26°C) in the Arabian Sea and northern Indian Ocean during SWM and vice versa during the NEM. There is a clear inverse relationship between nitrate and SST in the study area during July 1999–June 2004.


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