Abstract
This study investigates the altitudinal variation of dominant modes of summer monsoon intra-seasonal oscillation (ISO) over the Northwest (NWH) and Eastern Himalayan (EH) region using (i) spatially scattered 133 number of station rainfall observations and (ii) latitudinal transect-wise (LT) rainfall variation, obtained from an observed interpolated gridded rainfall data for the period 1995–2004. The altitudinal variation of dominant modes of monsoon ISO were investigated by exploring the strong and weak phases of the principal components of 10–90 days bandpass rainfall data of June to September with respect to location specific station height. Investigation of frequency of days for light and moderate rainfall along with the occurrence of total seasonal rainy days has revealed existence of a rainfall maximum around 2100 m height for the NWH region. Similarly, the total seasonal rainy days of EH region was found to have maxima between 1100 and 1400 m height. Analyses of the spatially scattered station rainfall observation for the NWH region showed that the strong periods of ISO modes exist around 747.9 (±131.7) m and 2227.2 (±100.2) m heights. Over the EH region, the dominant modes of the monsoon ISO were found to be centred around 1200 m. Significant alterations of strong and weak phases of monsoon ISO as a response to altitudinal variation in the mountain surface were observed when latitudinal transect-wise variation of monsoon ISO modes were investigated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barros A, Kim G, Williams E, Nesbitt S (2004) Probing orographic controls in the Himalayas during the monsoon using satellite imagery. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 4:29–51
Barry R (2008) Mountain weather and climate. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Bhatt B, Nakamura K (2005) Characteristics of monsoon rainfall around the Himalayas revealed by TRMM precipitation radar. Mon Weather Rev 133:149–165
Bookhagen B, Burbank D (2006) Topography, relief, and TRMM-derived rainfall variations along the Himalaya. Geophys Res Lett 33:L08405. doi:10.1029/2006GL026037
Bookhagen B, Thiede R, Strecker M (2005) Abnormal monsoon years and their control on erosion and sediment flux in the high, arid northwest Himalaya. Earth Planet Sci Lett 231 (1–2):131–146. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.11.014
Dhar O, Rakhecha P (1981) The effect of elevation on monsoon rainfall distribution in the central Himalayas. In: Monsoon dynamics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Dimri A (2013) Intraseasonal oscillation associated with the Indian winter monsoon. J Geophys Res 118 (3):1189–1198. doi:10.1002/jgrd.50144
Dimri A, Niyogi D (2013) Regional climate model application at subgrid scale on Indian winter monsoon over the western Himalayas. Int J Climatol 33(9):2185–2205. doi:10.1002/joc.3584
Dimri A, Yasunari T, Wiltshire A, Kumar P, Mathison C, Ridley J, Jacob D (2013) Application of regional climate models to the Indian winter monsoon over the western Himalayas. Sci Total Environ 468–469S:S36–S47. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.01.040
Gabet E, Burbank D, Putkonen J, Pratt-Situala B, Ojha T (2004) Rainfall thresholds for landsliding in the Himalayas of Nepal. Geomorphology 63:131–143. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2004.03.011
Goswami B (2005) South Asian Monsoon in Intraseasonal variability in the Atmosphere-Ocean climate system. In: Lau WKM, Waliser D (eds). Springer, Berlin
Hill S (1881) The meteorology of the north-west himalaya. Mem India Meteorol Dep 1:377–426
Kothyari B, Verma P, Joshi P, Kothyari U C (2004) Rainfall-runoff-soil and nutrient loss relationships for plot size areas of bhetagad watershed in Central Himalaya, India. J Hydrol 293:137–150. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2004.01.011
Mukherjee S, Joshi R, Prasad R, Vishvakarma S, Kumar K (2014) Summer monsoon rainfall trends in the Indian Himalayan region. Theor Appl Climatol. doi:10.1007/s00704-014-1273-1
Pattanaik D, Rajeevan M (2010) Variability of extreme rainfall events over India during southwest monsoon season. Meteorol Appl 17:88–104
Paul S, Bartarya S, Rautela P, Mahajan A (2000) Catastrophic mass movement of 1998 monsoons at Malpa in Kali Valley, Kumaun Himalaya (India). Geomorphology 35:169–180. doi:10.1016/S0169-555X(00)00032-5
Rajeevan M, Gadgil S, Bhate J (2010) Active and break spells of the Indian summer monsoon. J Earth Syst Sci 119(3):229–247
Rakhecha P, Pisharoty P (1996) Heavy rainfall during monsoon season: point and spatial distribution. Curr Sci 71(3):179–187
Sikka D (1997) Desert climate and its dynamics. Curr Sci 72(1):35–46
Singh P, Kumar N (1997) Effect of orography on precipitation in the western Himalayan region. J Hydrol 199:183–206
Yatagai A, Arakawa O, Kamiguchi K, Kawamoto H, Nodzu M, Hamada A (2009) A 44-year daily gridded precipitation dataset for asia based on a dense network of rain gauges. Sci Online Lett Atmos 5:137–140
Yatagai A, Kamiguchi K, Arakawa O, Hamada A, Yasutomi N, Kitoh A (2012) APHRODITE: constructing a long-term daily gridded precipitation dataset for Asia based on a dense network of rain gauges. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 93:1401–1415
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to the National Data Centre, India Meteorological Department (IMD) for providing the station observation rainfall data. This work is part of an In-House research project of GBPIHED, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, funded by Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change, Govt. of India. The Director of GBPIHED, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora is gratefully acknowledged for providing the computational facilities. Comments of the reviewers are acknowledged for improving the quality of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mukherjee, S., Ballav, S., Soni, S. et al. Investigation of dominant modes of monsoon ISO in the northwest and eastern Himalayan region. Theor Appl Climatol 125, 489–498 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1512-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1512-0