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Mechanism of high rainfall over the Indian west coast region during the monsoon season

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Abstract

The mechanism responsible for high rainfall over the Indian west coast region has been investigated by studying dynamical, thermodynamical and microphysical processes over the region for the monsoon season of 2009. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts wind and NCEP flux data have been used to study the large scale dynamical parameters. The moist adiabatic and multi-level inversion stratifications are found to exist during the high and low rainfall spells, respectively. In the moist adiabatic stratification regime, shallow and deep convective clouds are found coexisting. The Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement EXperiment aircraft data showed cloud updraft spectrum ranging from 1 to 10 m s−1 having modal speed 1–2.5 m s−1. The low updrafts rates provide sufficient time required for warm rain processes to produce rainfall from shallow clouds. The low cloud liquid water is observed above the freezing level indicating efficient warm rain process. The updrafts at the high spectrum end go above freezing level to generate ice particles produced due to mixed-phase rainfall process from deep convective clouds. With aging, deep convection gets transformed into stratiform type, which has been inferred through the vertical distribution of the large scale omega and heating fields. The stratiform heating, high latent heat flux, strong wind shear in the lower and middle tropospheric levels and low level convergence support the sustenance of convection for longer time to produce high rainfall spell. The advection of warm dry air in the middle tropospheric regions inhibits the convection and produce low rainfall spell. The mechanisms producing these spells have been summarized with the block diagram.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Director, IITM and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India. The authors gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (http://ready.arl.noaa.gov), Wyoming University for the upper air data, NCEP/NCAR for reanalysis data used in this publication. Authors sincerely acknowledge the efforts of all the CAIPEEX team members for the successful completion of the CAIPEEX aircraft observations. The authors gratefully acknowledge ECMWF for providing the ERA Interim, Atmospheric model data and YOTC data. Authors are thankful to anonymous reviewers whose suggestions helped to strengthen the argument of deep and shallow convection in the high and low rainfall spells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, 411 008, India

    R. S. Maheskumar, S. G. Narkhedkar, S. B. Morwal, B. Padmakumari, D. R. Kothawale, R. R. Joshi, C. G. Deshpande, R. V. Bhalwankar & J. R. Kulkarni

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  1. R. S. Maheskumar
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  2. S. G. Narkhedkar
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  3. S. B. Morwal
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  4. B. Padmakumari
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  5. D. R. Kothawale
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  6. R. R. Joshi
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  7. C. G. Deshpande
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  8. R. V. Bhalwankar
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  9. J. R. Kulkarni
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Correspondence to R. S. Maheskumar.

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Maheskumar, R.S., Narkhedkar, S.G., Morwal, S.B. et al. Mechanism of high rainfall over the Indian west coast region during the monsoon season. Clim Dyn 43, 1513–1529 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1972-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1972-9

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