Barotropic growth of monsoon depressions
Abstract
Although monsoon depressions are a principal synoptic‐scale element of the South Asian monsoon, producing extreme rainfall over India and surrounding regions, there exists no widely accepted mechanism explaining their occurrence. This study presents a hierarchy of numerical experiments aimed at finding such an explanation. Using a perturbation‐basic state decomposition, we derive an anelastic system of equations that can represent disturbances growing in the complex, three‐dimensional monsoon basic state. We find that modal solutions to these equations linearized about this basic state can explain many features of observed monsoon depressions, including their warm‐over‐cold core structure, westward propagation, and lower‐tropospheric wind maximum. For the zonally symmetric case, these modes are barotropically unstable, drawing energy from the meridional shear of the monsoon trough. For the zonally varying basic state, modal solutions still derive energy from barotropic conversion, but fail to achieve positive net growth rates when dissipative processes are included. For the nonlinear equation set, these modes can be excited by a heating impulse, and their energy then remains roughly constant over several days as barotropic energy transfers oppose dissipative losses. Our results support the idea that the general concept of barotropic instability can explain the structure, propagation, and geographic distribution of monsoonmore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1542355
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1494214
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; AGS‐1746160; N00014‐15‐1‐2531; DE‐SC0019367
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 145; Journal Issue: 719; Journal ID: ISSN 0035-9009
- Publisher:
- Royal Meteorological Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; barotropic instability; idealized numerical modelling; Indian monsoon; monsoon depression; monsoon low pressure system
Citation Formats
Diaz, Michael, and Boos, William R. Barotropic growth of monsoon depressions. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1002/qj.3467.
Diaz, Michael, & Boos, William R. Barotropic growth of monsoon depressions. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3467
Diaz, Michael, and Boos, William R. Mon .
"Barotropic growth of monsoon depressions". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3467. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1542355.
@article{osti_1542355,
title = {Barotropic growth of monsoon depressions},
author = {Diaz, Michael and Boos, William R.},
abstractNote = {Although monsoon depressions are a principal synoptic‐scale element of the South Asian monsoon, producing extreme rainfall over India and surrounding regions, there exists no widely accepted mechanism explaining their occurrence. This study presents a hierarchy of numerical experiments aimed at finding such an explanation. Using a perturbation‐basic state decomposition, we derive an anelastic system of equations that can represent disturbances growing in the complex, three‐dimensional monsoon basic state. We find that modal solutions to these equations linearized about this basic state can explain many features of observed monsoon depressions, including their warm‐over‐cold core structure, westward propagation, and lower‐tropospheric wind maximum. For the zonally symmetric case, these modes are barotropically unstable, drawing energy from the meridional shear of the monsoon trough. For the zonally varying basic state, modal solutions still derive energy from barotropic conversion, but fail to achieve positive net growth rates when dissipative processes are included. For the nonlinear equation set, these modes can be excited by a heating impulse, and their energy then remains roughly constant over several days as barotropic energy transfers oppose dissipative losses. Our results support the idea that the general concept of barotropic instability can explain the structure, propagation, and geographic distribution of monsoon depressions, but not their rapid growth rates. We speculate that condensational heating coupled to these waves is needed to obtain a positive growth rate.},
doi = {10.1002/qj.3467},
journal = {Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society},
number = 719,
volume = 145,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Dec 24 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Mon Dec 24 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Westward propagation of the Indian monsoon depression
journal, October 2005
- Chen, Tsing-Chang; Yoon, Jin-Ho; Wang, Shih-Yu
- Tellus A, Vol. 57, Issue 5
Study of a Monsoon Depression (II), Dynamical Structure [モンスーンじょう乱の研究(そのII)じょう乱の力学的構造]
journal, January 1976
- Krishnamurti, T. N.; Kanamitsu, Masao; Godbole, Ramesh
- Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan. Ser. II, Vol. 54, Issue 4
Moisture and Moist Static Energy Budgets of South Asian Monsoon Low Pressure Systems in GFDL AM4.0
journal, June 2018
- Adames, Ángel F.; Ming, Yi
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 75, Issue 6
A Genesis Index for Monsoon Disturbances
journal, July 2016
- Ditchek, Sarah D.; Boos, William R.; Camargo, Suzana J.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 29, Issue 14
Some aspects of the life history, structure and movement of monsoon depressions
journal, January 1977
- Sikka, D. R.
- Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH, Vol. 115, Issue 5-6
bservational Study of a Monsoon Depression Developed Over the Bay of Bengal during Summer MONEX [夏季モンスーン実験期間中,ベンガル湾上で発達したモンスーン低気圧の解析]
journal, January 1981
- Nitta, Tsuyoshi; Masuda, Kooiti
- Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan. Ser. II, Vol. 59, Issue 5
Role of barotropic mechanism in the development of a monsoon depression: A MONEX study
journal, January 1981
- Subrahmanyam, D.; Tandon, M. K.; George, L.
- Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH, Vol. 119, Issue 5
Ageostrophic Geopotential Fluxes in Downstream and Upstream Development of Baroclinic Waves
journal, January 1993
- Orlanski, Isidoro; Chang, Edmund K. M.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 50, Issue 2
Some dynamical characteristics and thermal structure of monsoon depressions over the Bay of Bengal
journal, May 1989
- Rajamani, S.; Sikdar, D. N.
- Tellus A, Vol. 41A, Issue 3
Numerical Solution of the Navier-Stokes Equations
journal, October 1968
- Chorin, Alexandre Joel
- Mathematics of Computation, Vol. 22, Issue 104
Role of Baroclinic Instability in the Development of Monsoon Disturbances
journal, February 1980
- Mishra, S. K.; Salvekar, P. S.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 37, Issue 2
Study of Dynamical Structure of an Unusual Monsoon Depression formed over the Bay of Bengal during August 2006
journal, February 2009
- Nagar, Sunanda; Bawiskar, Sanjay; Chinthalu, Gurunath
- Pure and Applied Geophysics, Vol. 166, Issue 3
Time-Splitting Methods for Elastic Models Using Forward Time Schemes
journal, August 2002
- Wicker, Louis J.; Skamarock, William C.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 130, Issue 8
The spatiotemporal structure of precipitation in Indian monsoon depressions: Spatiotemporal Structure of Precipitation in MDs
journal, October 2016
- Hunt, Kieran M. R.; Turner, Andrew G.; Parker, David E.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 142, Issue 701
Role of Narrow Mountains in Large-Scale Organization of Asian Monsoon Convection
journal, July 2006
- Xie, Shang-Ping; Xu, Haiming; Saji, N. H.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 19, Issue 14
On the vorticity Budget and Vertical Velocity Distribution Associated with the Life Cycle of a Monsoon Depression
journal, May 1977
- Daggupaty, Sreerama M.; Sikka, Dev R.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 34, Issue 5
Heating, Moistening, and Rainfall over the Western Pacific Warm Pool during TOGA COARE
journal, November 1996
- Lin, Xin; Johnson, Richard H.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 53, Issue 22
The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system
journal, April 2011
- Dee, D. P.; Uppala, S. M.; Simmons, A. J.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 137, Issue 656
Quasi-Geostrophic Diagnosis of the Monsoon Depression of 5–8 July 1979
journal, February 1984
- Sanders, Frederick
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 41, Issue 4
Baroclinic energetics and zonal plane distribution of monsoon disturbances
journal, January 1985
- Salvekar, P. S.; Mishra, S. K.
- Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH, Vol. 123, Issue 3
Three-Dimensional Structure and Dynamics of African Easterly Waves. Part II: Dynamical Modes
journal, September 2006
- Hall, Nicholas M. J.; Kiladis, George N.; Thorncroft, Chris D.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 63, Issue 9
Is the Time-Mean Northern Hemisphere Flow Baroclinically Unstable?
journal, January 1998
- Hall, Nicholas M. J.; Sardeshmukh, Prashant D.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 55, Issue 1
The Distribution of Deep Convection over Ocean and Land during the Asian Summer Monsoon
journal, September 1990
- Grossman, Robert L.; Garcia, Oswaldo
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 3, Issue 9
Barotropic Wave Propagation and Instability, and Atmospheric Teleconnection Patterns
journal, June 1983
- Simmons, A. J.; Wallace, J. M.; Branstator, G. W.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 40, Issue 6
Impacts of enhanced CCN on the organization of convection and recent reduced counts of monsoon depressions
journal, January 2013
- Krishnamurti, T. N.; Martin, Andrew; Krishnamurti, Ruby
- Climate Dynamics, Vol. 41, Issue 1
Observations of the Overland Reintensification of Tropical Storm Erin (2007)
journal, August 2009
- Arndt, Derek S.; Basara, Jeffrey B.; McPherson, Renee A.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 90, Issue 8
Westward Propagating Predecessors of Monsoon Depressions
journal, February 1981
- Saha, Kshudiram; Sanders, Frederick; Shukla, Jagadish
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 109, Issue 2
Three-Dimensional Structure and Dynamics of African Easterly Waves. Part III: Genesis
journal, November 2008
- Thorncroft, Chris D.; Hall, Nicholas M. J.; Kiladis, George N.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 65, Issue 11
Core Structure of a Bay of Bengal Monsoon Depression
journal, January 1984
- Warner, Charles
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 112, Issue 1
The movement of Indian monsoon depressions by interaction with image vortices near the Himalayan wall: Movement of Indian Monsoon Depressions
journal, June 2016
- Hunt, Kieran M. R.; Parker, Douglas J.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 142, Issue 698
Downstream Amplification and Formation of Monsoon Disturbances
journal, October 1977
- Krishnamurti, T. N.; Molinari, John; Pan, Hua-lu
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 105, Issue 10
Paradigms for tropical cyclone intensification
journal, March 2014
- Montgomery, M.; Smith, R.
- Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal, Vol. 64, Issue 1
Adiabatic westward drift of Indian monsoon depressions
journal, November 2014
- Boos, W. R.; Hurley, J. V.; Murthy, V. S.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 141, Issue 689
Interannual and Intraseasonal Variations in Monsoon Depressions and Their Westward-Propagating Predecessors
journal, June 1999
- Chen, Tsing-Chang; Weng, Shu-Ping
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 127, Issue 6
On the evolution of planetary-scale fields and genesis of monsoon depressions over the Indian region: Genesis of Monsoon Depressions
journal, December 2017
- Mishra, S. K.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 144, Issue 710
Dynamic instability of the zonal current during a break monsoon
journal, February 1971
- Rao, V. Brahmananda
- Tellus, Vol. 23, Issue 1
Perspectives on Moist Baroclinic Instability: Implications for the Growth of Monsoon Depressions
journal, April 2016
- Cohen, Naftali Y.; Boos, William R.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 73, Issue 4
Numerical Experiments with a Two-Dimensional Horizontal Variable grid
journal, November 1970
- Anthes, Richard A.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 98, Issue 11
On the Structure and Dynamics of Indian Monsoon Depressions
journal, September 2016
- Hunt, Kieran M. R.; Turner, Andrew G.; Inness, Peter M.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 144, Issue 9
Convective Clouds over the Bay of Bengal
journal, May 2003
- Zuidema, Paquita
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 131, Issue 5
The Baroclinic Processes of Monsoon Depressions
journal, July 1983
- Saha, Kshudiram; Chang, C-P.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 111, Issue 7
Interactions between Water Vapor and Potential Vorticity in Synoptic-Scale Monsoonal Disturbances: Moisture Vortex Instability
journal, June 2018
- Adames, Ángel F.; Ming, Yi
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 75, Issue 6
Barotropic-Baroclinic instability of mean zonal wind during summer monsoon
journal, January 1977
- Shukla, J.
- Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH, Vol. 115, Issue 5-6
Westward propagation of the Indian monsoon depression
journal, January 2005
- Chen, Tsing-Chang; Yoon, Jin-Ho; Wang, Shih-Yu
- Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, Vol. 57, Issue 5
On the Vertical Tilt of Monsoon Disturbances
journal, July 1972
- Keshavamurty, R. N.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 29, Issue 5
Absolute Barotropic Instability and Monsoon Depressions
journal, May 1983
- Lindzen, R. S.; Farrell, B.; Rosenthal, A. J.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 40, Issue 5
Determination of Bulk Properties of Tropical Cloud Clusters from Large-Scale Heat and Moisture Budgets
journal, May 1973
- Yanai, Michio; Esbensen, Steven; Chu, Jan-Hwa
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 30, Issue 4
Baroclinic Instability with Cumulus Heating
journal, October 1985
- Moorthi, Shrinivas; Arakawa, Akio
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 42, Issue 19
Low level wind shear and baroclinic growth of monsoon depression scale waves
journal, January 1986
- Salvekar, P. S.; George, L.; Mishra, S. K.
- Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, Vol. 35, Issue 1-2
A global climatology of monsoon low-pressure systems: Global Climatology of Monsoon Low-Pressure Systems
journal, October 2014
- Hurley, John V.; Boos, William R.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 141, Issue 689
Potential Vorticity Conservation, Hydrostatic Adjustment, and the Anelastic Approximation
journal, June 1995
- Bannon, Peter R.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 52, Issue 12
On the Ability of Dry Tropical-Cyclone-like Vortices to Withstand Vertical Shear
journal, January 2004
- Jones, Sarah C.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 61, Issue 1
CISK-Barotropic-Baroclinic Instability and the Growth of Monsoon Depressions
journal, March 1978
- Shukla, J.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 35, Issue 3
Nonlinear Balance and Potential-Vorticity Thinking At Large Rossby Number
journal, July 1992
- Raymond, D. J.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 118, Issue 507
Numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations
journal, January 1968
- Chorin, Alexandre Joel
- Mathematics of Computation, Vol. 22, Issue 104
Dynamic instability of the zonal current during a break monsoon
journal, January 1971
- Rao, V. Brahmananda
- Tellus, Vol. 23, Issue 1
Some dynamical characteristics and thermal structure of monsoon depressions over the Bay of Bengal
journal, January 1989
- Rajamani, S.; Sikdar, D. N.
- Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, Vol. 41, Issue 3
A genesis index for monsoon disturbances
text, January 2016
- Ditchek, Sarah D.; Boos, William R.; Camargo, Suzana J.
- Columbia University
Impacts of enhanced CCN on the organization of convection and recent reduced counts of monsoon depressions
conference, November 2012
- Krishnamurti, T. N.; Martin, Andrew; Krishnamurti, Ruby
- SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing, SPIE Proceedings
Works referencing / citing this record:
Downstream and In Situ: Two Perspectives on the Initiation of Monsoon Low‐Pressure Systems Over the Bay of Bengal
journal, November 2019
- Meera, M.; Suhas, E.; Sandeep, S.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 21
Mesoscale precipitation systems and their role in the rapid development of a monsoon depression over the Bay of Bengal
journal, December 2019
- Fujinami, Hatsuki; Hirata, Hidetaka; Kato, Masaya
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 146, Issue 726
Monsoon depression amplification by moist barotropic instability in a vertically sheared environment
journal, June 2019
- Diaz, Michael; Boos, William R.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 145, Issue 723