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Strengthened Indian Summer Monsoon Precipitation Susceptibility Linked to Dust‐Induced Ice Cloud Modification
Author(s) -
Patel Piyushkumar N.,
Gautam Ritesh,
Michibata Takuro,
Gadhavi Harish
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2018gl081634
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , monsoon , effective radius , ice cloud , climatology , aerosol , liquid water path , radiative transfer , geology , meteorology , geography , physics , quantum mechanics , galaxy
A growing body of research has underscored the radiative impact of mineral dust in influencing Indian summer monsoon rainfall variability. However, the various aerosol‐cloud‐precipitation interaction mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we analyze multisatellite observations to examine dust‐induced modification in ice clouds and precipitation susceptibility. We show contrasting dust‐induced changes in ice cloud regimes wherein despite a 25% reduction in ice particle radius in thin ice clouds, we find ~40% increase in ice particle radius and ice water path in thick ice clouds resulting in the cloud deepening and subsequently strengthened precipitation susceptibility, under strong updraft regimes. The observed dust‐ice cloud‐precipitation interactions are supported by a strong correlation between the interannual monsoon rainfall variability and dust frequency. This microphysical‐dynamical coupling appears to provide negative feedback to aerosol‐cloud interactions, which acts to buffer enhanced aerosol wet scavenging. Our results underscore the importance of incorporating meteorological regime‐dependent dust‐ice cloud‐precipitation interactions in climate simulations.