West coast India’s rainfall is becoming more convective

A. V. Sreenath; S. Abhilash; P. Vijaykumar; B. E. Mapes

doi:10.1038/s41612-022-00258-2

West coast India’s rainfall is becoming more convective

A. V. Sreenath, S. Abhilash, P. Vijaykumar, B. E. Mapes

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28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A disastrous cloudburst and associated floods in Kerala during the 2019 monsoon season raise the hypothesis that rainfall over the west coast of India, much of which is stratiform, may be trending towards being more convective. As a first exploration, we sought statistically significant differences in monthly ERA-5 reanalysis data for the monsoon season between two epochs, 1980–1999 and 2000–2019. Results suggest a more convective (deeper, ice-rich) cloud population in recent decades, with patterns illustrated in ERA-5 spatial maps. Deepening of convection, above and beyond its trend in amount, is also indicated by the steeper regression slope of outgoing longwave radiation trends against precipitation than that exhibited in interannual variability. Our reanalysis results are strengthened by related trends manifested in more direct observations from satellite and gauge-based rainfall and a CAPE index from balloon soundings data.

Original language	English
Article number	36
Number of pages	7
Journal	npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-022-00258-2
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022
Externally published	Yes

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title = "West coast India{\textquoteright}s rainfall is becoming more convective",

abstract = "A disastrous cloudburst and associated floods in Kerala during the 2019 monsoon season raise the hypothesis that rainfall over the west coast of India, much of which is stratiform, may be trending towards being more convective. As a first exploration, we sought statistically significant differences in monthly ERA-5 reanalysis data for the monsoon season between two epochs, 1980–1999 and 2000–2019. Results suggest a more convective (deeper, ice-rich) cloud population in recent decades, with patterns illustrated in ERA-5 spatial maps. Deepening of convection, above and beyond its trend in amount, is also indicated by the steeper regression slope of outgoing longwave radiation trends against precipitation than that exhibited in interannual variability. Our reanalysis results are strengthened by related trends manifested in more direct observations from satellite and gauge-based rainfall and a CAPE index from balloon soundings data.",

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AU - Sreenath, A. V.

AU - Abhilash, S.

AU - Vijaykumar, P.

AU - Mapes, B. E.

PY - 2022/12

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AB - A disastrous cloudburst and associated floods in Kerala during the 2019 monsoon season raise the hypothesis that rainfall over the west coast of India, much of which is stratiform, may be trending towards being more convective. As a first exploration, we sought statistically significant differences in monthly ERA-5 reanalysis data for the monsoon season between two epochs, 1980–1999 and 2000–2019. Results suggest a more convective (deeper, ice-rich) cloud population in recent decades, with patterns illustrated in ERA-5 spatial maps. Deepening of convection, above and beyond its trend in amount, is also indicated by the steeper regression slope of outgoing longwave radiation trends against precipitation than that exhibited in interannual variability. Our reanalysis results are strengthened by related trends manifested in more direct observations from satellite and gauge-based rainfall and a CAPE index from balloon soundings data.

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West coast India’s rainfall is becoming more convective

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