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A Review of Recent Progress In Understanding Mechanisms And Trends Of Monsoon Depressions (Invited Presentation)

Presentation Date
Monday, January 9, 2023 at 8:30am - Monday, January 9, 2023 at 9:00am
Location
Colorado Convention Center - 503
Authors

Author

Abstract

Much of the rain that falls in monsoon climates is delivered by transient, propagating vortices that are neither typhoons nor classic extratropical baroclinic waves, but another type of synoptic-scale disturbance. This is particularly true in the South Asian monsoon, where monsoon depressions produce extreme rainfall that is responsible for the majority of that region's hydrometeorological disasters. In this presentation we review recent progress in understanding the mechanisms of genesis and amplification of monsoon depressions, including theories for barotropic instability of the low-level monsoon westerlies and for instabilities produced by convective coupling with the background, seasonal mean poleward gradient in water vapor. We discuss historical trends in the frequency, location, and rain rates of monsoon depressions and high-resolution global climate model projections of their future changes. Finally, we close by presenting new operational predictions of monsoon depression activity based on numerical weather prediction model output.

Category
11th Symposium on the Madden-Julian Oscillation and Sub-Seasonal Monsoon Variability
Funding Program Area(s)