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Pacific Ocean origin for the 2009 Indian summer monsoon failure
Author(s) -
Ratnam J. Venkata,
Behera Swadhin K.,
Masumoto Y.,
Takahashi K.,
Yamagata T.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2010gl042798
Subject(s) - teleconnection , climatology , subtropics , sea surface temperature , walker circulation , subtropical ridge , monsoon , indian subcontinent , subsidence , atmospheric circulation , oceanography , pacific decadal oscillation , geology , north pacific high , environmental science , precipitation , geography , el niño southern oscillation , meteorology , structural basin , history , paleontology , ancient history , fishery , biology
The Indian subcontinent suffered from a severe drought during the summer monsoon season of 2009 when El Niño‐like conditions evolved in the Pacific. The warm sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in this season were seen throughout the tropical Pacific and over subtropical northwest Pacific. Since the atmospheric heat sources were perturbed somewhat differently in this abnormal El Niño year, we have carried out three different sensitivity experiments using an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) to understand the associated teleconnection. Experiments are carried out by specifying observed daily SST anomalies over the central Pacific, the eastern Pacific and the subtropical Pacific while prescribing the climatological SST elsewhere. The model results have shown that the warming in the central Pacific, resembling the recently identified El Niño Modoki condition, modified the regional Walker circulation over the tropical and subtropical Pacific so as to cause subsidence over the Indian subcontinent.