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Contrasting features of monsoon convection over land and sea in the west coast of peninsular India as revealed by S-band radar

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Abstract

Monsoon convection characteristics over land and sea within 150 km of the west coast of India are studied using coastal Mumbai S-band radar. The intraseasonal and interannual monsoon variabilities in cloud characteristics are investigated for the contrasting monsoon seasons of 2013 and 2014. The cloud characteristics studied are frequency of occurrences, cloud top height (CTH), longitudinal distribution, diurnal variation, and scale-wise distribution of cloud cells. The number of cloud cells is about four times higher over land than over sea. The maximum frequency of CTH is found in the cumulus category (3–4 km). The mean CTH varies from 4.49–5.44 km. No significant difference between the CTH over the land and sea regions is found. The contribution of congestus to total cloud cells is found maximum over both land and sea. The longitudinal variation of cloud frequency shows maximum frequency at a distance of 50–60 km from the location of radar over both sea and land. The maximum over the land region is the new feature revealed in the analysis. The diurnal variation of clouds shows a broad structure with maximum in the local noon and minimum in the morning hours. The mean duration of the clouds is 40–44 min both over land and sea. The contribution by the mesoscale convective system (MCS) is dominant (57–63%). The study of cloud distribution over land and sea over the west coast of India using radar data is the first of its kind and has brought out detailed structure of cloud distribution with time and space.

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Data availability

The radar data and high resolution gridded rainfall data are available from India Meteorological Department (IMD) upon reasonable request.

Code availability

TITAN software used for radar data analysis is freely available.

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Acknowledgements

IITM is fully supported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India, New Delhi. The authors would like to thank India Meteorological Department (IMD) for radar data and high resolution gridded rainfall data sets used in this study.

Funding

IITM is funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India, New Delhi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanashree Apartment, Bavdhan, Pune, India

    S. B. Morwal

  2. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Pune, India

    B. Padmakumari & G. Pandithurai

  3. Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, India

    R. S. Maheskumar

  4. India Meteorological Department, Pune, India

    K. S. Hosalikar

  5. Regional Meteorological Centre, New Delhi, India

    K. C. Sai Krishnan

  6. Safalya, Swami Vivekananda Nagar, Pune, India

    S. G. Narkhedkar

  7. Rajyog Society, Baner, Pune, India

    J. R. Kulkarni

Authors
  1. S. B. Morwal
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  4. K. S. Hosalikar
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Contributions

The authors have contributed as follows. Morwal Savita B: experiment designing, data analysis, first draft writing; Padmakumari B: data preparation, interpretation, manuscript editing and reviewing; Hosalikar K.S. and Sai Krishnan K.C.: radar data source, manuscript editing and reviewing; Maheskumar R.S., Narkhedkar S.G., and Pandithurai G.: manuscript editing and reviewing; Kulkarni J. R.: original concept, first draft writing and supervision of the work. All the authors have discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to B. Padmakumari.

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Morwal, S.B., Padmakumari, B., Maheskumar, R.S. et al. Contrasting features of monsoon convection over land and sea in the west coast of peninsular India as revealed by S-band radar. Theor Appl Climatol 150, 731–747 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04189-z

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