{News} 080701 Monsoon roars back to life, W. coast pounded

Monsoon roars back to life, W. coast pounded

Vinson Kurian

Thiruvananthapuram, July 1 The west coast, especially the Konkan-Mumbai-South Gujarat belt, has come in for a battering for the second time this monsoon in a pattern best attributed to a recurrent sea-based phenomenon – a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).


The west coast and parts of central India are witnessing what looks like a third successive surplus monsoon phase instigated by a rare third-in-a-row positive IOD event. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has now put the IOD on the same keel as the Pacific-generated El Nino/La Nina with regard to comparable influence on the monsoon.


Business Line had, on June 10, reported that the IOD event might just help the monsoon deliver more rain than what long-range forecasts appeared to credit it with. On Monday, the IMD upgraded its ‘near-normal’ long-term forecast (99 per cent of long period average) forecasts to ‘normal’ (100 per cent).

AIDING CONVECTION
A positive IOD occurs when the seesawing sea surface temperatures leaves a warming anomaly in the West Indian Ocean aiding convection and precipitation, with the pattern being reversed during negative IOD. In this manner, the monsoon gets an induced southwesterly ‘push’ that is reflected in the overall output over the landmass.


It is extremely unusual that a third consecutive positive IOD has evolved this year following those in 2006 and 2007. “As far as we know, there is no such occasion in the past 100 years when we had three consecutive positive IODs ”, Prof Toshio Yamagata and Dr Swadhin Behera of the Tokyo-based Frontier Research Centre for Global Climate (FRCGC), discoverers of the phenomenon, had told this paper.


On Tuesday, Prof Yamagata said it was a matter of time before operational weather agencies endorsed IOD as a crucial event driving weather in the region. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Unesco have already embraced the concept. “I hope regional people have enough time to prepare for possible impacts the event may have on local weather.”
IMD on Tuesday said the rains would start spreading itself thin from July 4, but did not apparently press Monday’s outlook for the monsoon trough to retreat to the Himalayan foothills. This would normally have heralded the ‘break monsoon’, a normal cool-off period when the monsoon is noticeably active along the foothills.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/07/02/stories/2008070250571300.htm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

{News} 080702 Muncul Gejala Awal Terjadi Dipole Mode

Muncul Gejala Awal Terjadi Dipole Mode Indonesia news, KOMPAS Rabu, 2 Juli 2008 06:37 WIB JAKARTA, RABU - Kekeringan yang terjadi di berbagai daerah di Indonesia mengindikasikan bakal terbentuk Dipole Mode Positif di Samudra Hindia. Kondisi tersebut berdampak pada kekeringan hingga bulan Oktober, bahkan mungkin lebih panjang lagi.Demikian antara lain dikemukakan Kepala Penelitian dan Pengembangan Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika Mezak Ratag yang dihubungi di Jakarta, Selasa (1/7).Sementara itu, dosen pada Kelompok Keahlian Sains Atmosfer, Fakultas Ilmu dan Teknologi Kebumian ITB Triwahyu Hadi berpendapat, musim kering kali ini termasuk normal meski angin Muson Timur diakuinya agak lemah. "Seharusnya memang masih ada hujan," ujarnya.Mezak sudah mengamati gejala Dipole Mode (DM) itu pada akhir Juni hingga awal Juli lalu. Dia menengarai, arah angin Muson yang biasanya dari tenggara kali ini dari arah timur. "Angin tenggara itu biasanya masih membawa cukup uap air, kali ini
Read more

{News} 080804 Haze returns to region as Sumatra's illegal fires rage

Haze returns to region as Sumatra's illegal fires rage The Straits Times, Aug 4, 2008 Despite fire-fighting efforts, visibility just 2km in Riau; air over Malaysia worsens By Teo Cheng Wee, In Kuala Lumpur and Salim Osman, Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta HAZE shrouded parts of the region yesterday after fires scorched forest and plantation land in Sumatra over the weekend, enveloping the Riau capital of Pekanbaru and parts of Peninsular Malaysia. The authorities have squarely blamed Indonesian farmers and plantation workers, who are clearing the land using slash-and-burn methods that have been banned since 1999. The number of hot spots in Sumatra surged from 351 to 531 on Saturday, before dipping to 360 yesterday, according to the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG). This was confirmed by Singapore's National Environment Agency. BMG analyst Selamat Triyadi told The Straits Times that Riau alone accounted for some 136 hot spots, while Pelalawan and Rokan Hulu h
Read more