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Revisiting Moisture Transport During the Indian Summer Monsoon Using the Moisture River Concept

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Abstract

The moisture river (MR) concept is used here to revisit the characteristics of moisture transport during the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) season from June to September. The study is carried out using Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data products for the 30-year period from 1982 to 2011. MRs are detected from vertically integrated vapor transport (IVT) computed using validated MERRA mixing ratios and horizontal wind speeds at vertical levels from the surface to 300 hPa. The characteristics of MR and moisture transport associated with major rainfall episodes of the 2011 ISM are studied in detail. The large moisture content, together with high wind speeds associated with the monsoon low-level jet, contributes to the observed structure of the MR. The outflux of moisture from the Arabian Sea is on average 40% larger than the cross-equatorial flux from the southern Indian Ocean, indicating increased contribution from the Arabian Sea. The upward movement of moisture to the layers above the jet is a decisive factor in the strengthening of the river and major rainfall episodes. Back-trajectory analyses reveal that the path of moisture transport from the southern Indian Ocean is confined to the lower levels, whereas higher-level trajectories originate from the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and southern Indian Ocean. The MR statistics show significant intra-seasonal and inter-annual variability in occurrence and strength, with a near-linear relationship between the IVT strength and the corresponding daily ISM rainfall, especially over the west coast. Wavelet cross-spectral analyses carried out using the daily Arabian Sea IVT maximum and rainfall over the west coast and central India during a deficit and surplus monsoon year depict significant differences in the dominant periodicities, associated with intra-seasonal and inter-annual monsoon variations.

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Acknowledgements

The first author acknowledges financial support in the form of a Junior Research Fellowship from the Ministry of Earth Sciences through the Continental Tropical Convergence Zone (CTCZ) program. The first author also acknowledge fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India under the Women Scientist Scheme. We thank Dr. (Mrs.) J. V. Revadekar, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and Dr. O. P. Sreejith, India Meteorological Department, Pune, for providing daily accumulated in situ and area weighted daily rainfall data sets. The authors acknowledge the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) and the GES DISC for the dissemination of MERRA data products.

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  1. Department of Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, 411 007, India

    Chetana Patil, K. C. Sinha Ray & Anandakumar Karipot

  2. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, Maharashtra, 411 008, India

    Thara Prabhakaran

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24_2019_2224_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Supplementary Fig. 1. Monthly mean IVT fields calculated from 30-year (1982–2011) MERRA mixing ratio and wind speed data during JJAS over the study region for (a) June, (b) July, (c) August and (d) September. (DOCX 467 kb)

24_2019_2224_MOESM2_ESM.docx

Supplementary Fig. 2. Time series of daily IVT maximum and total rainfall during JJAS used for the wavelet analysis: (a) rainfall over WC during 1988, (b) rainfall over CI during 1988, (c) rainfall over the WC during 2009, (d) rainfall over CI during 2009. The IVT in all figures is from the WC. (DOCX 80 kb)

24_2019_2224_MOESM3_ESM.docx

Supplementary Fig. 3. Time series of daily IVT maximum over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal (a) for 1988 and (b) for 2009. (DOCX 125 kb)

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Patil, C., Prabhakaran, T., Sinha Ray, K.C. et al. Revisiting Moisture Transport During the Indian Summer Monsoon Using the Moisture River Concept. Pure Appl. Geophys. 176, 5107–5123 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02224-1

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