Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Monsoon season local control on precipitation over warm tropical oceans

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Understanding local SST control on precipitation during monsoon is important for deducing climate change due to global warming, particularly for warm oceans. Studies of the relationship of the precipitation over tropical oceans with local sea surface temperature (SST), on the monthly scale, have shown that the propensity for precipitation is high for SST above a threshold of 27.5 \(^{\circ }\)C/28 \(^{\circ }\)C. However, for warm oceans with SST above the threshold such as the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea, for each SST, there is a large variation of precipitation and the SST–precipitation relationship is weak. On daily scale mean precipitation increases slightly with SST when precipitation lags SST by a few days, but the relationship between them is rather weak. But, when SST is above the threshold, for daily, pentad, 10-day and monthly time scales, and with or without time lag, the curve depicting the variation of mean precipitation with SST explains only a small fraction of precipitation variance and hence cannot be considered to be representative of the SST–precipitation relationship, or used to deduce the impact of SST on precipitation. On the other hand, the local control on precipitation is predominantly atmospheric dynamics with the relationship of variation of precipitation to low-level convergence on all timescales, being strong. This suggests that for warm oceans, the limiting resource for precipitation/convection is not SST but dynamics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adler RF, Huffman GJ, Chang A, Ferraro R, Xie P, Janowiak J, Rudolf R, Schneider U, Curtis S, Bolvin D, Gruber A, Susskind J, Arkin P, Nelkin E (2003) The version 2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979–present). J Hydrometeorol 4:1147–1167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Back LE, Bretherton CS (2009) On the relationship between SST gradients, boundary layer winds, and convergence over the tropical oceans. J Clim 22:4182–4196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhat GS, Gadgil S, Harish Kumar PV, Kalsi SR, Madhusoodanan P, Murty VSN, Prasada Rao CVK, Ramesh Babu V, Rao LVG, Rao RR, Ravichandran M, Reddy KG, Sanjeeva Rao P, Sengupta D, Sikka DR, Swain J, Vinayachandran PN (2001) BOBMEX: the Bay of Bengal monsoon experiment. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 82:2217–2243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjerknes J (1969) Atmospheric teleconnections from the equatorial Pacific. Mon Weather Rev 97:163–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bony S, Lau KM, Sud YC (1997) Sea surface temperature and large-scale circulation influences on tropical greenhouse effect and cloud radiative forcing. J Clim 10:2055–2077

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dee DP, Uppala SM, Simmons AJ, Berrisford P, Poli P, Kobayashi S, Andrae U, Balmaseda MA, Balsamo G, Bauer P, Bechtold P, Beljaars ACM, van de Berg L, Bidlot J, Bormann N, Delsol C, Dragani R, Fuentes M, Geer AJ, Haimberger L, Healy SB, Hersbach H, Holm EV, Isaksen L, Kallberg PM, Kohler M, Matricardi M, McNally AP, Monge-Sanz BM, Morcrette JJ, Park BK, Peubey C, de Rosnay P, Tavolato C, Thepaut JN, Vitart N (2011) The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Q J R Meteorol Soc 137:53–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ding Y, Sikka DR (2006) Synoptic systems and weather in the Asian monsoon. Praxis, Ehichester, pp 131–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis PA, Gadgil S (2009) The aberrant behaviour of the Indian monsoon in June 2009. Curr Sci 97(9):1291–1295

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu X, Wang B, Li T, McCreary JP (2003) Coupling between northward-propagating, intraseasonal oscillations and sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean. J Atmos Sci 60(15):1733–1753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gadgil S (2003) The Indian monsoon and its variability. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 31:29–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gadgil S, Joseph PV, Joshi NV (1984) Ocean-atmosphere coupling over monsoon regions. Nature 312:141–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham NE, Barnett TP (1987) Sea surface temperature, surface wind divergence, and convection over tropical oceans. Science 238:657–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang X, Li T, Wang B (2004) Structures and mechanisms of the northward propagating Boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation. J Clim 17:1022–1039

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson NC, Xie SP (2010) Changes in the sea surface temperature threshold for tropical convection. Nat Geosci 3(12):842–845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemball-Cook S, Wang B (2001) Equatorial waves and air-sea interaction in the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation. J Clim 14:2923–2942

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klingaman NP, Weller H, Slingo JM, Innes PJ (2008) The intraseasonal variability of the Indian summer monsoon using TMI sea surface temperatures and ECMWF reanalysis. J Clim 21:2519–2539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar A, Zhang L, Wang W (2013) Sea surface temperature–precipitation relationship in different reanalyses. Mon Weather Rev 141:1118–1123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lau KM, Wu HT, Bony S (1997) The role of large-scale atmospheric circulation in the relationship between tropical convection and sea surface temperature. J Clim 10:381–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu WT, Zhang A, Bishop JKB (1994) Evaporation and solar irradiance as regulators of sea surface temperature in annual and interannual changes. J Geophys Res 99:12623–12637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Premkumar K, Ravichandran M, Kalsi SR, Sengupta D, Gadgil S (2000) First results from a new observational system over the Indian seas. Curr Sci 78:323–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajendran K, Kitoh A (2006) Modulation of tropical intraseasonal oscillations by ocean–atmosphere coupling. J Clim 19:366–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajendran K, Kitoh A, Yukimoto S (2004a) South and east Asian summer monsoon climate and variation in the MRI coupled model (MRI-CGCM2). J Clim 17:763–782

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajendran K, Kitoh A, Arakawa O (2004b) Monsoon low frequency intraseasonal oscillation and ocean-atmosphere coupling over the Indian Ocean. Geophys Res Lett 31:L02210. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL019031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajendran K, Nanjundiah RS, Gadgil S, Srinivasan J (2012) How good are the simulations of tropical SST-rainfall relationship by IPCC AR4 atmospheric and coupled models? J Earth Syst Sci 121(4):867–889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner NA, Parker DE, Horton EB, Folland CK, Alexander LV, Rowell DP, Kent EC, Kaplan A (2003) Global analyses of SST, sea ice and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J Geophys Res 108:4407. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roxy M (2013) Sensitivity of precipitation to sea surface temperature over the tropical summer monsoon region–and its quantification. Clim Dyn 43:1151–1169. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1881-y

    Google Scholar 

  • Sengupta D, Ravichandran M (2001) Oscillations of Bay of Bengal sea surface temperature during the 1998 summer monsoon. Geophys Res Lett 28:2033–2036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmons A, Uppala S, Dee D, Kobayashi S (2007) ERA-Interim: new ECMWF reanalysis product from 1989 onwards. ECMWF Newsletter. No. 110, ECMWF, Reading, pp 25–35. https://www.ecmwf.int/en/elibrary/14615-newsletter-no-110-winter-2006-07. Accessed 22 Nov 2018

  • Su H, Neelin JD (2003) The scatter in tropical average precipitation anomalies. J Clim 16:3966–3976

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waliser DE (1996) Formation and limiting mechanisms for very high sea surface temperature: linking the dynamics and the thermodynamics. J Clim 9:161–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waliser DE, Graham NE (1993) Convective cloud systems and warm pool sea surface temperatures: coupled interactions and self regulation. J Geophys Res 98:12881–12893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waliser DE, Graham NE, Gautier C (1993) Comparison of the highly reflective cloud and outgoing longwave radiation datasets for use in estimating tropical deep convection. J Clim 6:331–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wentz FJ, Gentleman C, Smith D, Chelton D (2000) Satellite measurements of sea surface temperature through clouds. Science 288:847–850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Kirtman BP, Pegion K (2008) Local rainfall–SST relationship on subseasonal time scales in satellite observations and CFS. Geophys Res Lett 35(22):L22706. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL035883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang C (1993) Large-scale variability of atmospheric deep convection in relation to sea surface temperature in the tropics. J Clim 6:1898–1913

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Profs. J. Srinivasan, N. V. Joshi and Ravi S. Nanjundiah of IISc, Bangalore for many useful discussions and suggestions. KR acknowledges the financial support from the Monsoon Mission Phase-II Project (GAP-1013) of MoES and SS acknowledges the support from the Grant-in-aid project NCAP (GAP-1009) of MoEFCC from the Multi-Scale Modeling Program of CSIR 4PI.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multi-Scale Modelling Programme, CSIR Fourth Paradigm Institute, Bangalore, India

    Kavirajan Rajendran & Sajani Surendran

  2. Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Sulochana Gadgil

Authors
  1. Kavirajan Rajendran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sulochana Gadgil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sajani Surendran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kavirajan Rajendran.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: A.-P. Dimri.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rajendran, K., Gadgil, S. & Surendran, S. Monsoon season local control on precipitation over warm tropical oceans. Meteorol Atmos Phys 131, 1451–1465 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-018-0649-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-018-0649-7

Search

Navigation

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy