Monsoon

About: Monsoon is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 16087 publications have been published within this topic receiving 599888 citations.

The Rainfall Characteristics of Taiwan

Abstract: The rainfall regimes of Taiwan are investigated using the 18-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data (1980–97), the available 38-yr daily rainfall data from 25 conventional surface stations around Taiwan (1961–98), and the 5-yr hourly rainfall data (1994–98) from 249 high-spatial-resolution Automatic Rainfall and Meteorological Telemetry System (ARMTS) stations. Rainfall over the island is usually generated either by transient disturbances embedded in the prevailing monsoon flow or local rainshowers related to terrain or local winds. With the change in the direction of the prevailing winds between the warm and cold seasons as well as a variety of transient subsynoptic disturbances occurring in different seasons (e.g., winter monsoon cold surges, springtime cold fronts, mei-yu fronts in the early summer, typhoons in summer months, and cold fronts in fall) and the presence of the Central Mountain Range, the regional rainfall climate over the island shows large spatial and...

Influence of Soil Moisture on the Asian and African Monsoons. Part I: Mean Monsoon and Daily Precipitation

Abstract: Soil moisture responds to precipitation variability but also affects precipitation through evaporation. This two-way interaction has often been referred to as a positive feedback, since the water added to the land surface during a precipitation event leads to increased evaporation, and this in turn can lead to further rainfall. Various numerical experiments have suggested that this feedback has a major influence on tropical climate variability from the synoptic to the interannual timescale. In the present study, ensembles of seasonal simulations (March–September) have been performed in order to investigate the sensitivity of the Asian and African monsoon rainfall to regional soil moisture anomalies. After a control experiment with free-running soil moisture, other ensembles have been performed in which the soil water content is strongly constrained over a limited area, either south Asia or Sudan–Sahel. Besides idealized simulations in which soil moisture is limited by the value at the wilting poi...

Transport pathways of carbon monoxide in the Asian summer monsoon diagnosed from Model of Ozone and Related Tracers (MOZART)

Abstract: [1] Satellite observations of tropospheric chemical constituents (such as carbon monoxide, CO) reveal a persistent maximum in the upper troposphere―lower stratosphere (UTLS) associated with the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone. Diagnostic studies suggest that the strong anticyclonic circulation acts to confine air masses, but the sources of pollution and transport pathways to altitudes near the tropopause are the subject of debate. Here we use the Model for Ozone and Related Tracers 4 (MOZART-4) global chemistry transport model, driven by analyzed meteorological fields, to study the source and transport of CO in the Asian monsoon circulation. A MOZART-4 simulation for one summer is performed, and results are compared with satellite observations of CO from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder and the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer. Overall, good agreement is found between the modeled and observed CO in the UTLS, promoting confidence in the model simulation. The model results are then analyzed to understand the sources and transport pathways of CO in the Asian monsoon region, and within the anticyclone in particular. The results show that CO is transported upward by monsoon deep convection, with the main surface sources from India and Southeast Asia. The uppermost altitude of the convective transport is ∼12 km, near the level of main deep convective outflow, and much of the CO is then advected in the upper troposphere northeastward across the Pacific Ocean and southwestward with the cross-equatorial Hadley flow. However, some of the CO is also advected vertically to altitudes near the tropopause (∼16 km) by the large-scale upward circulation on the eastern side of the anticyclone, and this air then becomes trapped within the anticyclone (to the west of the convection, extending to the Middle East). Within the anticyclone, the modeled CO shows a relative maximum near 15 km, in good agreement with observations.

The leading mode of Indian Summer Monsoon precipitation variability during the last millennium

Abstract: [1] The “internally” generated intraseasonal variability of the Indian Summer Monsoon is characterized by intermittent periods of enhanced (“active”) and deficient (“break”) precipitation, which produce a quasi east-west precipitation dipole over the Indian subcontinent. Here we present multicentennial-length and near annually-resolved reconstructions of monsoon precipitation, inferred from absolute-dated and instrumentally calibrated speleothem oxygen isotope records from regions (central and northeast India) that have diametric responses to active-break monsoon circulation patterns. On centennial timescales (AD 1400–2008), precipitation variability from these two regions exhibit opposing behavior, oscillating between periods with a persistently “active-dominated” (AD ∼1700 to 2007) and a “break-dominated” (AD 1400 to ∼1700) regime. The switch between these regimes occurs abruptly (within decades) at a time (AD ∼ 1650–1700) when a proxy record of upwelling intensity from the Arabian Sea suggest an abrupt increase in the monsoon winds. On the basis of these observations, we hypothesize that the frequency distribution of active-break periods varies on centennial timescales, implying a leading role of internal dynamics in governing the ISM response to slowly-evolving changes in the external boundary conditions.

Summer monsoon variations over the last 1.2 Ma from the weathering of loess-soil sequences in China

Abstract: The loess-soil sequence in northern China contains a near continuous record of Quaternary paleoclimate. Magnetic susceptibility and grain size have so far been the only proxies available to address the long-term changes of the East-Asian paleomonsoon extending back to more than one million years. In this study, the ratio of CBD (citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite)-extractable free Fe2O3 (FeD), a measure of iron liberated by chemical weathering, versus the total Fe2O3 available (FeT) was measured on samples at 10 cm intervals taken from two loess sections deposited over the last 1.2 Ma. Variations of this index are highly consistent with other pedological indicators, but in addition provide a quantitative measurement of the degree of pedogenesis in the Loess Plateau. Since chemical weathering in the region mainly depends upon summer precipitation and temperature, weathering intensity primarily reflects changes in the East-Asian summer monsoon. The new proxy has been used to document a series of summer monsoon changes of global significance, which are not necessarily recorded by magnetic susceptibility.