Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' preface
- Keynote address to the 1977 Symposium SIR JAMES LIGHTHILL
- Part I The large-scale climatology of the tropical atmosphere
- Part II The summer monsoon over the Indian subcontinent and East Africa
- 12 The monsoon as reflected in the behaviour of the tropical high-pressure belt
- 13 On the onset of the Indian southwest monsoon and the monsoon general circulation
- 14 Medium-range forecasting of monsoon rains
- 15 Sea-surface temperature and the monsoon
- 16 The effect of elevation on monsoon rainfall distribution in the central Himalayas
- 17 Use of the equation of continuity of water vapour for computation of average precipitation over peninsular India during the summer monsoon
- 18 Determination of cloud cluster properties from MONSOON-77 data
- 19 Analysis of superpressure balloon trajectories and conventional observations over the Indian Ocean during different phases of the 1975 southwest monsoon
- 20 An experiment in monitoring cross-equatorial airflow at low level over Kenya and rainfall of western India during the northern summers
- 21 Structure of the Somali Jet deduced from aerial observations taken during June–July, 1977
- 22 Certain aspects of monsoonal precipitation dynamics over Lake Victoria
- 23 A numerical model of the monsoon trough
- 24 On the monsoonal midtropospheric cyclogenesis over western India
- 25 Downstream development of baroclinic waves in the uppertropospheric monsoon easterlies suggested by a simple model experiment
- 26 The stability of the monsoon zonal flow with a superposed stationary monsoon wave
- 27 Growth of monsoon disturbances over western India
- 28 Topographic Rossby waves in the summer monsoon
- Part III The physics and dynamics of the Indian Ocean during the summer monsoon
- Part IV Some important mathematical modelling techniques
- Part V Storm surges and flood forecasting
- Index
19 - Analysis of superpressure balloon trajectories and conventional observations over the Indian Ocean during different phases of the 1975 southwest monsoon
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' preface
- Keynote address to the 1977 Symposium SIR JAMES LIGHTHILL
- Part I The large-scale climatology of the tropical atmosphere
- Part II The summer monsoon over the Indian subcontinent and East Africa
- 12 The monsoon as reflected in the behaviour of the tropical high-pressure belt
- 13 On the onset of the Indian southwest monsoon and the monsoon general circulation
- 14 Medium-range forecasting of monsoon rains
- 15 Sea-surface temperature and the monsoon
- 16 The effect of elevation on monsoon rainfall distribution in the central Himalayas
- 17 Use of the equation of continuity of water vapour for computation of average precipitation over peninsular India during the summer monsoon
- 18 Determination of cloud cluster properties from MONSOON-77 data
- 19 Analysis of superpressure balloon trajectories and conventional observations over the Indian Ocean during different phases of the 1975 southwest monsoon
- 20 An experiment in monitoring cross-equatorial airflow at low level over Kenya and rainfall of western India during the northern summers
- 21 Structure of the Somali Jet deduced from aerial observations taken during June–July, 1977
- 22 Certain aspects of monsoonal precipitation dynamics over Lake Victoria
- 23 A numerical model of the monsoon trough
- 24 On the monsoonal midtropospheric cyclogenesis over western India
- 25 Downstream development of baroclinic waves in the uppertropospheric monsoon easterlies suggested by a simple model experiment
- 26 The stability of the monsoon zonal flow with a superposed stationary monsoon wave
- 27 Growth of monsoon disturbances over western India
- 28 Topographic Rossby waves in the summer monsoon
- Part III The physics and dynamics of the Indian Ocean during the summer monsoon
- Part IV Some important mathematical modelling techniques
- Part V Storm surges and flood forecasting
- Index
Summary
The trajectories of 45 superpressure balloons launched in the tropical boundary layer over the Indian Ocean during the 1975 summer monsoon are analysed in conjunction with conventional meteorological observations which consist mainly of ship reports. An assimilation of these randomly distributed data is performed to compute mean gridded fields (wind, pressure, air and sea-surface temperature) during four periods defined according to the level of monsoon activity over the Indian subcontinent. The main features of the southwest monsoon over the Indian Ocean are presented and discussed. More particularly, the differences in meteorological fields between the different periods are emphasized in order to determine the association between mean meteorological conditions over the Indian Ocean and monsoon activity over the subcontinent.
Introduction
Because of the lack of data over vast areas of the Indian Ocean, the details of the monsoonal airflow at low levels, where the development of the southwest monsoon takes place, still remains largely unknown.
All previous studies over the ocean have been related to monthly mean fields or local measurements, while transient phenomena of interest occurring with shorter periods over the Indian monsoon region as a whole are still largely uninvestigated. For example, one of the most important phenomena, which is the alternating of break and strong activity of the monsoon over the Indian subcontinent, takes place with a period of about two weeks. The study of the relationship between the variability of monsoon rainfall and that of the fields of other meteorological variables requires a knowledge of the variability of these fields averaged over a few days.
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- Monsoon Dynamics , pp. 287 - 308Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1981
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