Hunt, KMR and Parker, DJ (2016) The movement of Indian Monsoon Depressions by interaction with image vortices near the Himalayan Wall. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 142 (698). pp. 2224-2229. ISSN 0035-9009
Abstract
It is argued that a simple explanation for the westward propagation of Indian Monsoon Depressions (IMDs) is the interaction of the depression vortex with the Himalayan “wall”. This interaction can be modelled by simulating an IMD as a point vortex in a horizontal plane (at 850 hPa) and invoking image vortices behind the barrier. Solenoidal flows associated with the image vortices allow the boundary conditions at the Himalayas to be met, and cause the IMD vortex to propagate parallel to the barrier, toward the west. This simple model is tested against propagation speeds for observed IMDs. The histogram of observed propagation speed, normalised by the point-vortex model prediction, has a mean of 1.08 and standard deviation of 0.68. The model also explains the observed intensification of flow on the Himalayan side of the IMD which is a key process in enhancing rainfall to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in the monsoon season.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 The Authors. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Royal Meteorological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | monsoon; depressions; Himalayas; vortices; India |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Royal Society No External Reference NERC No External Refererence Met Office L0627 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2016 09:51 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2023 22:03 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qj.2812 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/qj.2812 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:97979 |