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North Equatorial Indian Ocean Convection and Indian Summer Monsoon June Progression: a Case Study of 2013 and 2014
No full textThe consecutive summer monsoons of 2013 and 2014 over the Indian subcontinent saw very contrasting onsets and progressions during the initial month. While the 2013 monsoon saw the timely onset and one of the fastest progressions during the recent decades, 2014 had a delayed onset and a slower progression phase. The monthly rainfall of June 2013 was +34 %, whereas in 2014 it was −43 % of its long-period average. The progress/onset of monsoon in June is influenced by large-scale circulation and local feedback processes. But, in 2013 (2014), one of the main reasons for the timely onset and fastest progression (delayed onset and slower progression) was the persistent strong (weak) convection over the north equatorial Indian Ocean during May. This resulted in a strong (weak) Hadley circulation with strong (weak) ascent and descent over the north equatorial Indian Ocean and the South Indian Ocean, respectively. The strong (weak) descent over the south Indian Ocean intensified (weakened) the Mascarene High, which in turn strengthened (weakened) the cross-equatorial flow and hence the monsoonal circulation
Decadal inversion of CO2 using the Global Eulerian-Lagrangian Coupled Atmospheric model (GELCA): sensitivity to the ground-based observation network
Get PDFWe present an assimilation system for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) using a Global Eulerian–Lagrangian Coupled Atmospheric model (GELCA), and demonstrate its capability to capture the observed atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios and to estimate CO2 fluxes. With the efficient data handling scheme in GELCA, our system assimilates non-smoothed CO2 data from observational data products such as the Observation Package (ObsPack) data products as constraints on surface fluxes. We conducted sensitivity tests to examine the impact of the site selections and the prior uncertainty settings of observation on the inversion results. For these sensitivity tests, we made five different site/data selections from the ObsPack product. In all cases, the time series of the global net CO2 flux to the atmosphere stayed close to values calculated from the growth rate of the observed global mean atmospheric CO2 mixing ratio. At regional scales, estimated seasonal CO2 fluxes were altered, depending on the CO2 data selected for assimilation. Uncertainty reductions were determined at the regional scale and compared among cases. As measures of the model–data mismatch, we used the model–data bias, root-mean-square error, and the linear correlation. For most observation sites, the model–data mismatch was reasonably small. Regarding regional flux estimates, tropical Asia was one of the regions that showed a significant impact from the observation network settings. We found that the surface fluxes in tropical Asia were the most sensitive to the use of aircraft measurements over the Pacific, and the seasonal cycle agreed better with the results of bottom-up studies when the aircraft measurements were assimilated. These results confirm the importance of these aircraft observations, especially for constraining surface fluxes in the tropics
Multidecadal weakening of Indian Summer Monsoon circulation induces an increasing Northern Indian Ocean sea level
No full textNorth Indian Ocean sea level has shown significant increase during last three to four decades. Analyses of long‐term climate data sets and ocean model sensitivity experiments identify a mechanism for multidecadal sea level variability relative to global mean. Our results indicate that North Indian Ocean sea level rise is accompanied by a weakening summer monsoon circulation. Given that Indian Ocean meridional heat transport is primarily regulated by the annual cycle of monsoon winds, weakening of summer monsoon circulation has resulted in reduced upwelling off Arabia and Somalia and decreased southward heat transport, and corresponding increase of heat storage in the North Indian Ocean. These changes in turn lead to increased retention of heat and increased thermosteric sea level rise in the North Indian Ocean, especially in the Arabian Sea. These findings imply that rising North Indian Ocean sea level due to weakening of monsoon circulation demands adaptive strategies to enable a resilient South Asian population
On the association of lightning activity and projected change in climate over the Indian sub-continent
No full textThe association of lightning activity with the long-term as well as seasonal spatio-temporal distribution of convective available potential energy (CAPE), surface convective precipitation, vegetation cover and anthropogenic aerosol loading over the Indian sub-continent has been studied for the period 2000–2014. The north-east to north-west arc including the foothills of the Himalayas is the primary seats of lightning occurrences. The correlations of lightning activity with each of aerosol loading, vegetation cover, convective instability and convective precipitation helps us in understanding the definite entity that is responsible for changing the lightning activity in different parts of this tropical region. Lightning flash rate (LFR) has significant positive correlations (r ~ 0.5–0.7) with AOD, CAPE and surface convective precipitation but significant negative correlation (r ~− 0.4) with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Using global circulation models from the Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), time-series of observed and projected upper tropospheric water vapor, surface convective precipitation and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the historical simulations (1996–2005) and RCP8.5 emission scenario (2036–2045) are analyzed over the Indian region that are vulnerable to climate change in terms of occurrence of convective events and associated hazardous lightning phenomena. This study indicates that upper tropospheric water vapor (300 hPa) has a significant linkage with the lightning occurrences associated with convective activities and strong updraft. During the mid- 21st century, AOD, surface convective precipitation and specific humidity are projected to increase by 1.42%, 2.01% and 1.40%, respectively which may result in regional changes in lightning activity over the Indian sub-continent
Annual and decadal variation in chemical composition of rain water at all the ten GAW stations in India
No full textSpatial variation of long term annual precipitation volume weighted concentrations of major chemical constituents (SO4−2, NO3−, Cl−, NH4+, Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+ and K+ ) at all the ten Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) stations in India for the period from 1981 to 2012 is studied in this paper. Ionic abundance and balance is studied as well. The range of long term annual mean pH at ten stations was 5.25 ± 0.82 to 6.91 ± 0.76, lowest at Mohanbari and highest at Jodhpur. The long term annual mean pH for the period 1981–2012 showed decreasing trend at all the stations (significant at 5 % level). Decadal mean pH among ten stations for 1981–1990, 1991–2000 and 2001–2012 ranged between 7.31 to 5.76, 7.45 to 4.92 and 6.16 to 4.77 respectively and showed decreasing trend at all the stations during 1981–1990 to 2001–12. The percentage occurrence of acidic pH (<5.65) at ten stations ranged from 3 to 72 %, lowest at Jodhpur and highest at Mohanbari and it increased from 1981–1990 to 2001–2012 almost at all the stations. Temporal variation of annual mean values of nssSO4−2, NO3−, Ca+2 and pH for the study period were attempted. Variation of nss K (non sea salt Potassium) at all the stations was studied to assess the biomass burning contribution in different regions. Non-marine (terrestrial) contribution dominated for majority of ionic constituents at most of the stations. However marine contribution was found to be dominant for Mg at Port Blair and Minicoy. Also sea salt fraction of SO4 was higher than terrestrial at Minicoy. Sources of measured ionic constituents in rain water are assessed through correlation analysis. The concentrations of all the ionic species were lowest at Kodaikanal, a high altitude hill top station and the total ionic mass was 136.0 μeq/l. Jodhpur, an arid station not only had highest concentrations of Ca+2, SO4−2 and K+ but also had highest total ionic content (1051.8 μeq/l) among all the stations. At Srinagar, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Nagpur and Pune stations Ca+2 was the dominant cation while dominant anion was NO3− for Srinagar, Allahabad, and Nagpur and Cl− for Jodhpur and Pune; at Mohanbari NO3− and Ca+2; at Visakhapatnam, Port Blair and Minicoy Na+ and Cl− were abundant. Temporal variation had shown an increasing trend for nssSO4−2 and NO3− and obviously decreasing trend for pH at all the stations. However, Ca+2 showed a decreasing trend at all the stations except at Port Blair. With the exception of Pune and Jodhpur stations, nssK showed a decreasing trend at all the stations revealing decreasing influence of soil/biomass burning over Indian GAW stations. Negative correlation of pH with SO4−2 was found to be weak compared to NO3–
Seasonal variation of urban heat island and its impact on air-quality using SAFAR observations at Delhi, India
Get PDFThis paper discussed the urban heat island (UHI) intensity and local air quality by using observational data of project of the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) over Delhi during the month of May and December 2013. It is found that UHI magnitudes ~2.2°C and ~1.5°C are formed at the evening traffic hours during May and December respectively. Also, intensity of UHI < 0°C over daytime is referred as Urban Cool Island (UCI) during May and December. The diurnal PM2.5 concentration shows a bimodal pattern with peaks at morning and evening traffic hours during May and December. The planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) values show higher in magnitude during the daytime and lower in magnitude during the night-time. Whereas, the Ground Heat Flux values are lower during the daytime and higher during the night-time. The wind speed shows lower values during the UHI and higher magnitudes during the UCI formation hours. Concentration of PM2.5 and wind speed shows a strong negative correlation during May (r = -0.56, p = 0.002) and December (r = -0.57, p = 0.001) at C V Raman (CVR) site, however, high values in the concentration of PM2.5 during the low wind speed favour the condition for the formation of UCI. The regression analysis indicated that PM2.5 plays a significant role in the daytime cooling and nighttime warming over the urban areas during the low wind speed condition
Variability of lightning, convective rain and solar activity study over South/Southeast Asia during ENSO episode for the period of 1998-2010
Get PDFAbstract
Analysis of monthly mean data of lightning and convective rain for the region 8° N - 35° N, 60° E - 120° E
and for the period 1998-2010 show that lightning and convective rain are not significantly influenced
by solar parameters such as sunspot number, total solar irradiance (TSI) and solar radio flux
whereas CAPE anomaly and temperature anomaly have significant impact on the total lightning flash
rate and convective rain during ENSO periods. Further no significant relation between cosmic ray flux and
total lightning flash rate during La Niña period is obtained. On the other hand, for the El Niño period
and for the total period, we get statistically some significant negative correlation between cosmic ray
flux and total lightning flash rate. However, it is not possible to make any comment on the general
relation between cosmic ray flux and total lightning flash rate due to contaminating global effects, regional
effects and cloud microphysics. In the monthly variation of the parameters, temperature anomaly can be
used as a proxy for the total lightning flash rate for the region under consideration. Most of the variation
in ozone during the ENSO period is due to lightning. In the region considered here, role of aerosols in
producing lightning and rainfall is quite comparable during La Niña period. On the other hand, aerosols
contribute more towards production of lightning than producing rain during El Niño due to changes
in cloud microphysics and cloud electrification
Assessment of unusual Gigantic jets observed during the Monsoon season: First observations from Indian Subcontinent
No full textGigantic Jets are electric discharges from thunderstorm cloud tops to the bottom of ionosphere at ~90 km altitude and electrically connect the troposphere and lower ionosphere. Since their first report in 2002, sporadic observations have been reported from ground and space based observations. Here we report first observations of Gigantic Jets in Indian subcontinent over the Indo-Gangetic plains during the monsoon season. Two storms each produced two jets with characteristics not documented so far. Jets propagated ~37 km up remarkably in ~5 ms with velocity of ~7.4 × 106ms−1 and disappeared within ~40–80 ms, which is faster compared to jets reported earlier. The electromagnetic signatures show that they are of negative polarity, transporting net negative charge of ~17–23 C to the lower ionosphere. One jet had an unusual form observed for the first time, which emerged from the leading edge of a slowly drifting complex convective cloud close to the highest regions at ~17 km altitude. A horizontal displacement of ~10 km developed at ~50 km altitude before connecting to the lower ionosphere. Modeling of these Gigantic jets suggests that Gigantic Jets may bend when initiated at the edge of clouds with misaligned vertical charge distribution
Role of organic aerosols in CCN activation and closure over a rural background site in Western Ghats, India
No full textThe cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) closure study was performed to exemplify the effect of aerosol chemical composition on the CCN activity of aerosols at Mahabaleshwar, a high altitude background site in the Western Ghats, India. For this, collocated aerosol, CCN, Elemental Carbon (EC), Organic Carbon (OC), sub-micron aerosol chemical speciation for the period from 3rd June to 19th June 2015 was used. The chemical composition of non-refractory particulate matter (<1 μm) as measured by Time of Flight – Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ToF-ACSM) was dominated by organics with average concentration of 3.81 ± 1.6, 0.32 ± 0.06, 0.15 ± 0.02, 0.13 ± 0.03 and 0.95 ± 0.12 μg m−3 for organics, ammonium, chloride, nitrate and sulphate, respectively. The PM1 number concentration as obtained by Wide Range Aerosol Spectrometer (WRAS) varied from 750 to 6480 cm−3. The average mass concentration of elemental carbon (EC) as measured by OC-EC analyzer was 1.16 ± 0.4 μg m−3. The average CCN concentrations obtained from CCN counter (CCNC) at five super-saturations (SS's) was 118 ± 58 cm−3 (0.1% SS), 873 ± 448 cm−3 (0.31% SS), 1308 ± 603 cm−3 (0.52% SS), 1610 ± 838 cm−3 (0.73% SS) and 1826 ± 985 cm−3 (0.94% SS). The CCN concentrations were predicted using Köhler theory on the basis of measured aerosol particle number size distribution, size independent NR-PM1 chemical composition and calculated hygroscopicity. The CCN closure study was evaluated for 3 scenarios, B-I (all soluble inorganics), B-IO (all soluble organics and inorganics) and B-IOOA (all soluble inorganic and soluble oxygenated organic aerosol, OOA). OOA component was derived from the positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of organic aerosol mass spectra. Considering the bulk composition as internal mixture, CCN closure study was underestimated by 16–39% for B-I and overestimated by 47–62% for B-IO. The CCN closure result was appreciably improved for B-IOOA where the knowledge of OOA fraction was introduced and uncertainty reduced to within 8–10%
Association of rainfall and stability index with lightning parameter over the Indo-Gangetic Plains
No full textThe Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) based satellite lightning grid data for 10 year period (1998-2007) were used to study the association of rainfall and stability index with lightning parameter over Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP) region. The spatial variation of flash rate density (FRD) is found to be (40 fl·km-2·yr-1) higher over northern region of IGP as compare to that of eastern IGP region. The annual variation of FRD exhibits bimodal distributions, while the precipitation rate shows unimodal distributions. The results show that the FRD peaked 2 months (pre-monsoon) in advance to the monsoon months where rainfall peak occurred due to environmental lapse rates more than 7.0°C/km during pre-monsoon which is evident from the temperature profile for correlation coefficient between temperature (700 mb) and FRD with coefficient of 0.70, p ≤ 0.0001 during pre-monsoon. The annual variation of lifted index show negative value over March to September due to intense insolation, convective available potential energy (CAPE) and also availability of moisture. The convective cloud transform into thundercloud with the development of mixed-phase (cloud water + ice) which subsequently produce the lightning. During monsoon, seasonal thermal heating diminishes and even on revival after break monsoon period, K-index is found to be less as the orography does not allow the highly moist air of low temperature to reach to large height above freezing level. They can be referred as maritime clouds of intermediate height with moderate updraft and hence minimum lightning activity during the monsoon season. Lifted index are proved to be indicators of thunderstorm conditions. This is because that rising air parcel is much warmer than its surroundings and can accelerate rapidly and create severe thunderstorms