Abstract
The air-sea interaction processes and their relation to Indian summer monsoon rainfall via dynamic and thermodynamic components are vital. The present study examined the two contrasting monsoon years 2016 (normal) and 2017 (below normal) and highlighted the significance of air-sea interaction in the understanding the rainfall over central India. We investigate the difference in the sea surface height anomaly and propagation of oceanic Kelvin and Rossby wave over the tropical Indian Ocean and other atmospheric parameters during the contrasting monsoon years. The study gives information on how equatorial and coastal Kelvin/Rossby waves cause upwelling/downwelling and modulate convection and influence rainfall during 2016 and 2017. The high (low) sea surface height anomaly, sea surface temperature, and upper ocean heat content during 2016 (2017) lead to enhanced (subdued) convection in the Bay of Bengal and thereby contributing more rainfall to central India. During 2016 (2017), high (low) tropospheric temperature draws more (less) moisture through mid-tropospheric heat flux, and net convergence (divergence) is dominated over the central India that results in enhanced (diminish) convection. Also, the velocity potential determines the strengthening (weakening) of Walker circulation through associated atmospheric circulation and upper-level divergence (convergence) that become favorable for rainfall in the year 2016 (2017). This study will help in understanding the variations in the air-sea interaction processes over the tropical Indian Ocean and the Indian subcontinent, the results of which may improve the predictability of the rainfall.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
SSHA dataset can be found at https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/data/products/sea-surface-height-products.html, GPCP precipitation dataset is available at https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.gpcp.html, NCEP/NCAR data is available at https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis.pressure.html, Era-Interim dataset can be found at https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-interim, and NODC data for ocean heat content is available at https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/3M_HEAT_CONTENT/
References
Ajayamohan RS, Merryfield WJ, Kharin VV (2010) Increasing trend of synoptic activity and its relationship with extreme rain events over central India. J Clim 23:1004–1013. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2918.1
Alory G, Meyers G (2009) Warming of the upper equatorial Indian Ocean and changes in the heat budget (1960-99). J Clim 22:93–113. https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JCLI2330.1
Annamalai H, Murtugudde R, Potemra J, et al (2003) Coupled dynamics over the Indian Ocean: spring initiation of the zonal mode. Deep Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(03)00058-4
Ashok K, Guan Z, Yamagata T (2001) Impact of the Indian Ocean dipole on the relationship between the Indian monsoon rainfall and ENSO. Geophys Res Lett 28:4499–4502. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL013294
Bhatla R, Raju PVS, Mohanty UC, Madan OP, Mall RK (2011) Study of energy fluxes over the Indian ocean prior and during the summer monsoon. Mar Geod 34:119–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490419.2011.571557
Brandt P, Stramma L, Schott F, Fischer J, Dengler M, Quadfasel D (2002) Annual Rossby waves in the Arabian Sea from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter and in situ data. Deep Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr. 49:1197–1210. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(01)00166-7
Chelton DB, Schlax MG (1996) Global observations of oceanic Rossby waves. Science (80- ). doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.272.5259.234
Chowdary JS, Gnanaseelan C, Xie SP (2009) Westward propagation of barrier layer formation in the 2006-07 Rossby wave event over the tropical southwest Indian Ocean. Geophys Res Lett 36. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL036642
Emanuel KA (1999) Thermodynamic control of hurricane intensity. Nature. 401:665–669. https://doi.org/10.1038/44326
Feng M, Meyers G (2003) Interannual variability in the tropical Indian Ocean: a two-year time-scale of Indian Ocean Dipole. Deep Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr 50:2263–2284. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(03)00056-0
Feng M, Meyers G, Wijffels S (2001) Interannual upper ocean variability in the tropical Indian Ocean. Geophys Res Lett 28:4151–4154. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL013475
Gadgil S, Joseph PV, Joshi NV (1984) Ocean-atmosphere coupling over monsoon regions. Nature. 312:141–143. https://doi.org/10.1038/312141a0
Gadgil S, Vinayachandran PN, Francis PA, Gadgil S (2004) Extremes of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, ENSO and equatorial Indian Ocean oscillation. Geophys Res Lett doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019733, 31
Gera A, Mitra AK, Mahapatra DK, Momin IM, Rajagopal EN, Basu S (2016) Sea surface height anomaly and upper ocean temperature over the Indian Ocean during contrasting monsoons. Dyn Atmos Ocean. 75:1–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dynatmoce.2016.04.002
Goswami BN (1998) The physics of ENSO-monsoon connection. Indian J Mar Sci
Goswami BN, Ajayamohan RS, Xavier PK, Sengupta D (2003) Clustering of synoptic activity by Indian summer monsoon intraseasonal oscillations. Geophys Res Lett 30. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL016734
Han W, Meehl GA, Rajagopalan B, Fasullo JT, Hu A, Lin J, Large WG, Wang JW, Quan XW, Trenary LL, Wallcraft A, Shinoda T, Yeager S (2010) Patterns of Indian Ocean sea-level change in a warming climate. Nat Geosci 3:546–550. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo901
Hunt KMR, Turner AG, Inness PM, Parker DE, Levine RC (2016) On the structure and dynamics of Indian monsoon depressions. Mon Weather Rev 144:3391–3416. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-15-0138.1
Hunt KMR, Fletcher JK (2019) The relationship between Indian monsoon rainfall and low-pressure systems. Clim Dyn 53:1859–1871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04744-x
India Meteorological Department (2017) 2017 southwest monsoon end of season report. Earth Syst Sci Organ Minist Earth Sci India Meteorol Dep
India Meteorological Department (2016) 2016 southwest monsoon end of season report. Earth Syst Sci Organ Minist Earth Sci India Meteorol Dep
Joseph S, Sahai AK, Dey A, Mandal R, Aparnna RP (2018) On the dynamics of extended breaks during 2017 monsoon. Research Report No. RR-143. ESSO/IITM/SERP/SR/05(2018)/194
Kantha L, Rojsiraphisal T, Lopez J (2008) The North Indian Ocean circulation and its variability as seen in a numerical hindcast of the years 1993-2004. Prog Oceanogr 76:111–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2007.05.006
Keshavamurty RN (1982) Response of the atmosphere to sea surface temperature anomalies over the equatorial Pacific and the teleconnections of the Southern Oscillation. J Atmos Sci 39:1241–1259. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1982)039<1241:rotats>2.0.co;2
Kothawale DR, Singh HN (2017) Recent trends in tropospheric temperature over India during the period 1971–2015. Earth Sp Sci 4:240–246. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EA000246
Kripalani RH, Oh JH, Kulkarni A, Sabade SS, Chaudhari HS (2007) South Asian summer monsoon precipitation variability: coupled climate model simulations and projections under IPCC AR4. Theor Appl Climatol 90:133–159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-006-0282-0
Krishnamurthy V, Goswami BN (2000) Indian monsoon-ENSO relationship on interdecadal timescale. J Clim 13:579–595. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<0579:IMEROI>2.0.CO;2
Krishnamurti TN, Oosterhof DK, Mehta AV (1988) Air–sea interaction on the time scale of 30 to 50 days. J Atmos Sci 45:1304–1322. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1988)045<1304:aiotts>2.0.co;2
Kumar MRR, Sathyendranath S, Viswambharan NK, Rao LVG (1986) Sea surface temperature variability over North Indian Ocean—a study of two contrasting monsoon seasons. Proc Indian Acad Sci - Earth Planet Sci. 95:435–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02842510
Liu X, Yanai M (2001) Relationship between the Indian monsoon rainfall and the tropospheric temperature over the Eurasian continent. Q J R Meteorol Soc 127:909–937. https://doi.org/10.1256/smsqj.57310
Masumoto Y, Meyers G (1998) Forced Rossby waves in the southern tropical Indian Ocean. J Geophys Res Ocean 103:27589–27602. https://doi.org/10.1029/98JC02546
McCreary JP, Kundu PK, Molinari RL (1993) A numerical investigation of dynamics, thermodynamics and mixed-layer processes in the Indian Ocean. Prog Oceanogr 31:181–244
Meyers G (1996) Variation of Indonesian throughflow and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. J Geophys Res C Ocean. 101:12255–12263. https://doi.org/10.1029/95JC03729
Murtugudde R, McCreary JP, Busalacchi AJ (2000) Oceanic processes associated with anomalous events in the Indian Ocean with relevance to 1997-1998. J Geophys Res Ocean. 105:3295–3306. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jc900294
Oliver ECJ, Thompson KR (2010) Madden-Julian oscillation and sea level: local and remote forcing. J Geophys Res Ocean. 115. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC005337
Pant GB, Parthasarathy SB (1981) Some aspects of an association between the southern oscillation and Indian summer monsoon. Arch Meteorol Geophys Bioclimatol Ser B 29:245–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02263246
Parampil SR, Gera A, Ravichandran M, Sengupta D (2010) Intraseasonal response of mixed layer temperature and salinity in the Bay of Bengal to heat and freshwater flux. J Geophys Res Ocean. 115. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC005790
Peter BN, Mizuno K (2000) Annual cycle of steric height in the Indian Ocean estimated from the thermal field. Deep Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 47:1351–1368. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(99)00088-6
Polito PS (1997) Long baroclinic Rossby waves detected by TOPEX/POSEIDON. J Geophys Res C Ocean 102:3215–3235. https://doi.org/10.1029/96JC03349
Potemra JT, Luther ME, O’Brien JJ (1991) The seasonal circulation of the upper ocean in the Bay of Bengal. J Geophys Res 96:12667. https://doi.org/10.1029/91jc01045
Rajeevan M, McPhaden MJ (2004) Tropical Pacific upper ocean heat content variations and Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Geophys Res Lett 31. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020631
Raju PVS, Mohanty UC, Rao PLS, Bhatla R (2002) The contrasting features of Asian summer monsoon during surplus and deficient rainfall over India. Int J Climatol 22:1897–1914. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.855
Ramesh Kumar MR, Shenoi SSC, Schulz J (2005) Impact of convection over the equatorial trough on summer monsoon activity over India. Int J Remote Sens 26:4747–4762. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160500196414
Rao RR, Girish Kumar MS, Ravichandran M, Rao AR, Gopalakrishna VV, Thadathil P (2010b) Interannual variability of Kelvin wave propagation in the wave guides of the equatorial Indian Ocean, the coastal Bay of Bengal and the southeastern Arabian Sea during 1993-2006. Deep Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap. 57:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2009.10.008
Rao RR, Sivakumar R (2000) Seasonal variability of near-surface thermal structure and heat budget of the mixed layer of the tropical Indian Ocean from a new global ocean temperature climatology. J Geophys Res Ocean. 105:995–1015. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jc900220
Rao SA, Behera SK, Masumoto Y, Yamagata T (2002) Interannual subsurface variability in the tropical Indian Ocean with a special emphasis on the Indian Ocean Dipole. Deep Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr. 49:1549–1572. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(01)00158-8
Rao SA, Chaudhari HS, Pokhrel S, Goswami BN (2010a) Unusual central Indian drought of summer monsoon 2008: role of southern tropical Indian Ocean warming. J Clim 23:5163–5174. https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3257.1
Sadhuram Y, Rao BP, Rao DP, Shastri PNM, Subrahmanyam MV (2004) Seasonal variability of cyclone heat potential in the Bay of Bengal. Nat Hazards 32:191–209. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000031313.43492.a8
Saji NH, Goswami BN, Vinayachandran PN, Yamagata T (1999) A dipole mode in the tropical Indian ocean. Nature. 401:360–363. https://doi.org/10.1038/43854
Schiller A, Wijffels SE, Sprintall J, Molcard R, Oke PR (2010) Pathways of intraseasonal variability in the Indonesian Throughflow region. Dyn Atmos Ocean 50:174–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dynatmoce.2010.02.003
Sengupta D, Goswami BN, Senan R (2001) Coherent intraseasonal oscillations of ocean and atmosphere during the Asian summer monsoon. Geophys Res Lett 28:4127–4130. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL013587
Sengupta D, Ravichandran M (2001) Oscillations of Bay of Bengal sea surface temperature during the 1998 summer monsoon. Geophys Res Lett 28:2033–2036. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000GL012548
Shankar D, Shetye SR, Joseph PV (2007) Link between convection and meridional gradient of sea surface temperature in the Bay of Bengal. J Earth Syst Sci 116:385–406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-007-0038-y
Shukla J, Paolino DA (2002) The southern oscillation and long-range forecasting of the summer monsoon rainfall over India. Mon Weather Rev 111:1830–1837. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1983)111<1830:tsoalr>2.0.co;2
Sikka DR (1980) Some aspects of the large scale fluctuations of summer monsoon rainfall over India in relation to fluctuations in the planetary and regional scale circulation parameters. Proc Indian Acad Sci - Earth Planet Sci 89:179–195. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02913749
Sreejith OP, Panickal S, Pai S, Rajeevan M (2015) An Indian Ocean precursor for Indian summer monsoon rainfall variability. Geophys Res Lett 42:9345–9354. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065950
Subrahmanyam B, Robinson IS, Blundell JR, Challenor PG (2001) Indian ocean Rossby waves observed in TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data and in model simulations. Int J Remote Sens 22:141–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/014311601750038893
Trenary LL, Han W (2012) Intraseasonal-to-interannual variability of South Indian Ocean sea level and thermocline: remote versus local forcing. J Phys Oceanogr 42:602–627. https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-11-084.1
Vecchi GA, Harrison DE (2002) Monsoon breaks and subseasonal sea surface temperature variability in the Bay of Bengal. J Clim 15:1485–1493. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<1485:MBASSS>2.0.CO;2
Venugopal T, Ali MM, Bourassa MA, Zheng Y, Goni GJ, Foltz GR, Rajeevan M (2018) Statistical evidence for the role of southwestern Indian Ocean heat content in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Sci Rep 8:12092. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30552-0
Walker GT, Bliss EW (1932) World Weather V—NAO. Mem R Meteorol Soc
Wang JW, Han W, Sriver RL (2012) Impact of tropical cyclones on the ocean heat budget in the Bay of Bengal during 1999: 1. Model configuration and evaluation. J Geophys Res Ocean. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008372
Webster PJ, Magaña VO, Palmer TN, Shukla J, Tomas RA, Yanai M, Yasunari T (1998) Monsoons: processes, predictability, and the prospects for prediction. J Geophys Res Ocean. 103:14451–14510. https://doi.org/10.1029/97jc02719
Webster PJ, Moore AM, Loschnigg JP, Leben RR (1999) Coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics in the Indian Ocean during 1997-98. Nature. 401:356–360. https://doi.org/10.1038/43848
Xavier PK, Marzin C, Goswami BN (2007) An objective definition of the Indian summer monsoon season and a new perspective on the ENSO-monsoon relationship. Q J R Meteorol Soc 133:749–764. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.45
Yang J, Yu L, Koblinsky CJ, Adamec D (1998) Dynamics of the seasonal variations in the Indian Ocean from TOPEX/POSEIDON sea surface height and an ocean model. Geophys Res Lett 25:1915–1918. https://doi.org/10.1029/98gl01401
Yu L, McPhaden MJ (2011) Ocean preconditioning of Cyclone Nargis in the Bay of Bengal: interaction between Rossby waves, surface fresh waters, and sea surface temperatures. J Phys Oceanogr 41:1741–1755. https://doi.org/10.1175/2011jpo4437.1
Funding
The first author is thankful to Dept. of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India for supporting the junior research fellowship via grant number DST/CCP/NCM/69/2017. AM and MSS acknowledge INSPIRE PhD fellowship from DST grant no. IF170016 and IF160281, respectively. PK recognizes the funding from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India, grant number SB/S2/RJN-080/2014, and DST grant number DST/CCP/NCM/69/2017.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharma, S., Kumari, A., Navajyoth, M.P. et al. Impact of air-sea interaction during two contrasting monsoon seasons. Theor Appl Climatol 141, 1645–1659 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03300-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03300-6