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Impact of African orography and the Indian summer monsoon on the low-level Somali jet

Chakraborty, Arindam and Nanjundiah, Ravi S and Srinivasan, J (2009) Impact of African orography and the Indian summer monsoon on the low-level Somali jet. In: International Journal of Climatology, 29 (7, Sp.). pp. 983-992.

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Official URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/1197554...

Abstract

The low-level jet (LLJ) over the Indian region, which is most prominent during the monsoon (June-September) season, has been studied with a general circulation model (GCM). The role of African orography in modulating this jet is the focus of this article. The presence o African orography intensifies the cross-equatorial flow. Contrary to previous modelling Studies we find that cross-equatorial flow occurs even in the absence of African orography, though this flow is muc weaker even when the Indian monsoon rainfall is high. However, the location of the meridional jet near the equator in the Somali region is linked to the Indian monsoon rainfall rather than to the land-sea contrast over Somalia. Also, the presence of African orography, and not the strength of the Indian monsoon, controls the vertical extent of the equatorial meridional wind. In an aqua-planet simulation, the cross-equatorial flow occurs about 30 to the west of the rainfall maximum. Thus, the longitudinal location of the equatorial Somali jet depends upon the occurrence of monsoon heating, but the vertical structure of the jet is on account of the western boundary current in the atmosphere due to the East African highlands under the influence of monsoonal heat source.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: International Journal of Climatology
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
Additional Information: Copyright of this article belongs to John Wiley and Sons.
Keywords: Somali jet;African orography;Indian summer monsoon;general circulation model.
Department/Centre: Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
Date Deposited: 17 Aug 2009 07:06
Last Modified: 19 Sep 2010 05:34
URI: http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/20730

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