Abstract
The sources of variation in rainfall over the Sri Lanka during past few decades are puzzling and much attention has paid to decadal climate predictions because of the recognition that there is a necessity for long-term decisions to adapt to the impacts of climate change. However, the impact of Pacific Decadal Oscillations (PDO) on the south west monsoon (SWM) variability has not been satisfactorily discussed so far and no study has been explaining the detailed relation between PDO and south west monsoon mechanism. In this study, we investigated the fluctuations of southwest monsoon rainfall over Sri Lanka in relation to PDO observed in the sea surface temperature (SST) of the North Pacific Ocean. Rainfall of 21 meteorological stations in Sri Lanka for a period of 50 years were included and analyzed. During the period studied, there were three (03) cold phases, two (02) warm phases of PDO, ten (10) El-Nino events and sixteen (16) La-Nina events. Post maps were constructed for cold and warm phases of PDO in El-Nino and La-Nina events separately, using the monthly rainfall composites during the south west monsoon period. In the warm phase of the PDO, dry condition and in the cold phase of the PDO, wet condition is observed to develop over Sri Lanka respectively. Furthermore, during the warm phase of the PDO, the influence of El-Nino (La-Nina) on the south-west monsoon rainfall is increased (counteracted). These associations indicate that the PDO extends its effect from the North Pacific Ocean to the tropical Pacific Ocean and changes the relation between the El-Nino Southern Oscillations (ENSO) and the south-west monsoon rainfall.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Deser, C., Phillips, A. S., Hurrell, J. W., Deser, C., Phillips, A. S., & Hurrell, J. W. (2004). Pacific Interdecadal Climate Variability: Linkages between the Tropics and the North Pacific during Boreal Winter since 1900. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2004)017<3109:PICVLB>2.0.CO;2
Goddard, L., Hurrell, J. W., Kirtman, B. P., Murphy, J., Stockdale, T., & Vera, C. (2012). Two time scales for the price of one (almost). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 93(5), 621–629). https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00220.1
Hapuarachchi, & Jayawardena. (2015). Modulation of seasonal rainfall in Sri Lanka by ENSO extremes. Sri Lanka Journal of Meteorology, 1, 3–11.
Huang, B., Thorne, P. W., Banzon, V. F., Boyer, T., Chepurin, G., Lawrimore, J. H., Menne, M. J., Smith, T. M., Vose, R. S., & Zhang, H. M. (2017). Extended reconstructed Sea surface temperature, Version 5 (ERSSTv5): Upgrades, validations, and intercomparisons. Journal of Climate, 30(20), 8179–8205. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0836.1.
Krishnamurthy, V., & Kirtman, B. P. (2009). Relation between Indian monsoon variability and SST. Journal of Climate, 22(17), 4437–4458. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2520.1.
Liu, Z. (2012). Dynamics of interdecadal climate variability: A historical perspective. Journal of Climate, 25(6), 1963–1995. https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JCLI3980.1.
Mantua, N. J., & Hare, S. R. (2002). The pacific decadal oscillation. Journal of Oceanography, 58(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015820616384.
Mantua, N. J., Hare, S. R., Zhang, Y., Wallace, J. M., & Francis, R. C. (1997). A pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on Salmon production. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 78(6), 1069–1079. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078%3c1069:APICOW%3e2.0.CO;2.
Meehl, G. A., Goddard, L., Murphy, J., Stouffer, R. J., Boer, G., Danabasoglu, G., Dixon, K., Giorgetta, M. A., Greene, A. M., Hawkins, E. D., Hegerl, G., Karoly, D., Keenlyside, N., Kimoto, M., Kirtman, B., Navarra, A., Pulwarty, R., Smith, D., Stammer, D., & Stockdale, T. (2009). Decadal prediction: Can it be skillful? Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 90(10), 1467–1485. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009BAMS2778.1.
Minobe, S., & Nakanowatari, T. (2002). Global structure of Bidecadal precipitation variability in boreal winter. Geophysical Research Letters, 29(10), 35–1–35–4. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001gl014447
Ouyang, R., Liu, W., Fu, G., Liu, C., Hu, L., & Wang, H. (2014). Linkages between ENSO/PDO signals and precipitation, streamflow in China during the last 100 years. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 18(9), 3651–3661. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3651-2014.
Power, S., Tseitkin, F., Mehta, V., Lavery, B., Torok, S., & Holbrook, N. (1999). Decadal climate variability in Australia during the twentieth century. International Journal of Climatology, 19(2), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199902)19:2%3c169::AID-JOC356%3e3.0.CO;2-Y.
Premalal. (2013). Change and behavior of rainfall pattern in Sri Lanka with Southern Oscillation (SO)-El-Nino and La-Nina. SAARC Meteorological Research Centre.
Raghavan, K. (1973). Break-monsoon over India. Monthly Weather Review, 101(1), 33–43.https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1973)101<0033:boi>2.3.co;2
Rasmusson, E. M., & Carpenter, T. H. (1983). The relationship between eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures and rainfall over India and Sri Lanka. Monthly Weather Review, 111(3), 517–528. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1983)111%3c0517:TRBEEP%3e2.0.CO.
Sumathipala. (1999). Characteristics of the ENSO in the Indian Ocean. In Proceedings of the 15th Technical Session, Institute of Physics, Sri Lanka.
Sumathipala, & De Silva. (1981). Rainfall pattern over Sri Lanka dueing the ‘break’ periodof the Indian summer monsoon. In Proceedings, International Conference, Scientific Results of Monsoon Experiment, Denpasar, Bali, Indunesia.
Sumathipala, & Punyadeva (1998). Variation of the rainfall of Sri Lanka in relation toEl-Nino. In Proceedings of the Annual Sessions of the Institute of Physics, Sri Lanka,Colombo.
Suppiah, R. (1997). Extremes of the Southern oscillation phenomenon and the rainfall of Sri Lanka. International Journal of Climatology, 17(1), 87–101. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199701)17:1%3c87::AID-JOC95%3e3.0.CO;2-X.
Vimont, D. J. (2005). The contribution of the interannual ENSO cycle to the spatial pattern of decadal ENSO-like variability. Journal of Climate, 18(12), 2080–2092. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3365.1.
Watanabe, T., & Yamazaki, K. (2014). Decadal-scale variation of South Asian summer monsoon onset and its relationship with the pacific decadal oscillation. Journal of Climate, 27(13), 5163–5173. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00541.1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hettiarachchi, R.D., Sumathipala, W.L., Navaratna, W.C.W., Somarathne, S., Premalal, K.H.M.S. (2021). The Impact of PDO on South–West Monsoon Rainfall Over Sri Lanka and Monsoon-ENSO Relation. In: Amaratunga, D., Haigh, R., Dias, N. (eds) Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73003-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73003-1_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-73002-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-73003-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)