The 2015 Indian summer monsoon onset - phenomena, forecasting and research flight planning

Willetts, Peter D.; Turner, Andrew G.; Martin, Gill M.; Mrudula, G.; Hunt, Kieran M.R.; Parker, Douglas J.; Taylor, Christopher M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0120-3198; Birch, Cathryn E.; Mitra, Ashis K.; Heming, Julian T.; Brooks, Malcolm E.. 2017 The 2015 Indian summer monsoon onset - phenomena, forecasting and research flight planning. Weather, 72 (6). 168-175. https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2819

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wea.2819

Abstract/Summary

From May to July 2016, as part of the INCOMPASS project, the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM, jointly funded by the Met Office and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)) BAe-146 research aircraft travelled to India to record key aspects of the Indian summer monsoon onset and evolution. As part of the planning for the campaign, partners in the UK and India took part in a ‘dry-run’ forecasting exercise during 2015, to assess the reliability of the forecast products and develop a set of flight plans, in advance of the real campaign, and to get a real-time feel for the monsoon onset. The 5-day forecasts from the Met Office and the Indian National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) showed good skill in terms of predicting the advance of rainfall in regions key for the campaign in north and south India, and captured transitions from active (wet) monsoon conditions to break (dry) periods and back again. Key phenomena seen during the dry-run exercise include (1) a ‘western disturbance’, which had a major effect on the extreme pre-monsoon heatwave conditions over India, (2) dry intrusions, which are thought to be important in the progression of the monsoon onset against the synoptic flow, and (3) cyclones Ashobaa and Komen.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2819
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Reynard
ISSN:	0043-1656
Additional Keywords:	Indian monsoon, BAE-146 research aircraft, INCOMPASS, onset, dry intrusion, NCMRWF, Met Office
NORA Subject Terms:	Meteorology and Climatology
Date made live:	12 Jun 2017 13:08 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514419

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2819

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Reynard

ISSN:

0043-1656

Additional Keywords:

Indian monsoon, BAE-146 research aircraft, INCOMPASS, onset, dry intrusion, NCMRWF, Met Office

NORA Subject Terms:

Meteorology and Climatology