Some Physical Aspects of Summer Monsoon Clouds-Comparison of Cloud Model Results with Observations

A. Mary Selvam; R. Vijayakumar; A. S. R. Murty

doi:10.1007/BF02657370

Impact Factor: 5.8

Volume 8 Issue 1

Jan. 1991

Article Contents

Article > ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES > 1991 > 8(1): 111-124

Some Physical Aspects of Summer Monsoon Clouds-Comparison of Cloud Model Results with Observations

1.
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune 411 008, India,Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune 411 008, India,Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune 411 008, India

doi: 10.1007/BF02657370

Abstract
References
Related papers
PDF

Abstract:
The physical characteristics of the summer monsoon clouds were investigated. The results of a simple cloud mod-el were compared with the aircraft cloud physical observations collected during the summer monsoon seasons of 1973,1974,1976 and 1981 in the Deccan Plateau region.The model predicted profiles of cloud liquid water content (LWC) are in agreement with the observed profiles. There is reasonable agreement between the model predicted cloud vertical thickness and observed rainfall.The observed cloud-drop spectra were found to be narrow and the concentration of drops with diameter >20μm is either low or absent on many occasions. In such clouds the rain-formation cannot take place under natural atmos-pheric conditions due to the absence of collision-coalescence process. A comparison of the model predicted and ob-served rainfall suggested that the precipitation efficiency in cumulus clouds of small vertical thickness could be as low as 20 per cent.The clouds forming in the Deccan Plateau region during the summer monsoon are, by and large, cumulus and strato-cumulus type. The vertical thickness of the cumulus clouds is in the range of 1.0-2.0 km. The LWC is found to be more in the region between 1.6-1.9 km A. S. L., which corresponds to the level at almost 3 / 4 th of the total verti-cal thickness of the cloud and thereafter the LWC sharply decreased. Nearly 98 per cent of the tops of the low clouds in the region are below freezing level and the most frequent range of occurrence of these cloud-tops is in the range of 2.0-3.0 km A. S. L.. The dominant physical mechanism of rain-formation in these summer monsoon clouds it the col-lision-coalescence process.
References

[1]	N. R. Parija, S. K. Dash, 1995: Some Aspects of the Characteristics of Monsoon Disturbances Using a Combined Barotropic-Baroclinic Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 12, 487-506. doi: 10.1007/BF02657007
[2]	Zhang Mingli, Garrett G. Campbell, 1992: Comparison of Satellite and Ship Observations for Total Cloud Amount, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 9, 63-72. doi: 10.1007/BF02656931
[3]	R. H. Kripalani, S. V. Singh, 1993: Large Scale Aspects of India-China Summer Monsoon Rainfall, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 10, 71-84. doi: 10.1007/BF02656955
[4]	Liang HU, Zhian SUN, Difei DENG, Greg ROFF, 2019: Evaluation of Summer Monsoon Clouds over the Tibetan Plateau Simulated in the ACCESS Model Using Satellite Products, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 36, 326-338. doi: 10.1007/s00376-018-7301-9
[5]	Huiling YANG, Hui XIAO, Chunwei GUO, Guang WEN, Qi TANG, Yue SUN, 2017: Comparison of Aerosol Effects on Simulated Spring and Summer Hailstorm Clouds, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 34, 877-893. doi: 10.1007/s00376-017-6138-y
[6]	P.C.S. Devara, G. Chandrasekhar, M.I. Ahmed, 1989: Some Aspects of the Diurnal and Semidiurnal Tidal Wind Field in Meteor Zone, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 6, 357-364. doi: 10.1007/BF02661541
[7]	QIU Yujun, Thomas CHOULARTON, Jonathan CROSIER, Zixia LIU, 2015: Comparison of Cloud Properties between CloudSat Retrievals and Airplane Measurements in Mixed-Phase Cloud Layers of Weak Convective and Stratus Clouds, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 32, 1628-1638. doi: 10.1007/s00376-015-4287-4
[8]	LIU Liping, ZHANG Zhiqiang, YU Danru, YANG Hu, ZHAO Chonghui, ZHONG Lingzhi, 2012: Comparison of Precipitation Observations from a Prototype Space-based Cloud Radar and Ground-based Radars, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 29, 1318-1329. doi: 10.1007/s00376-012-1233-6
[9]	Xiao ZHANG, Saichun TAN, Guangyu SHI, 2018: Comparison between MODIS-derived Day and Night Cloud Cover and Surface Observations over the North China Plain, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 35, 146-157. doi: 10.1007/s00376-017-7070-x
[10]	Chen Panqin, Yan Zhongwei, 1993: Some Preliminary Results on Pilot Study of Global Change in China, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 10, 201-210. doi: 10.1007/BF02919142
[11]	Huang Ronghui, Yan Bangliang, 1987: THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF TOPOGRAPHY AND HEAT SOURCES ON THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE SUMMER MONSOON OVER ASIA, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 4, 13-23. doi: 10.1007/BF02656658
[12]	Kong Fanyou, Qin Yu, 1993: The Vertical Transport of Air Pollutants by Convective Clouds. Part I: A Non-Reactive Cloud Transport Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 10, 415-427. doi: 10.1007/BF02656966
[13]	S. K. Sinha, D. R. Talwalkar, S. Rajamani, 1987: ON SOME ASPECTS OF OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF HUMI-DITY OVER INDIAN REGION BY THE OPTIMUM INTERPOLATION METHOD, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 4, 332-342. doi: 10.1007/BF02663603
[14]	LIU Qinyu, WEN Na, YU Yongqiang, 2006: The Role of the Kuroshio in the Winter North Pacific Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction: Comparison of a Coupled Model and Observations, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 23, 181-189. doi: 10.1007/s00376-006-0181-4
[15]	Lei ZHANG, Xiquan DONG, Aaron KENNEDY, Baike XI, Zhanqing LI, 2017: Evaluation of NASA GISS Post-CMIP5 Single Column Model Simulated Clouds and Precipitation Using ARM Southern Great Plains Observations, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 34, 306-320. doi: 10.1007/s00376-016-5254-4
[16]	D.M. CHATE, RT. . WAGHMARE, C.K. JENA, V. GOPALAKRISHNAN, P. MURUGAVEL, Sachin D. GHUDE, Rachana KULKARNI, P.C. S. DEVARA, 2018: Cloud Condensation Nuclei over the Bay of Bengal during the Indian Summer Monsoon, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 35, 218-223. doi: 10.1007/s00376-017-6331-z
[17]	P. Ernest Raj, P. C. S. Devara, A. M. Selvam, A.S.R. Murty, 1993: Aircraft Observations of Electrical Conductivity in Warm Clouds, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 10, 95-102. doi: 10.1007/BF02656957
[18]	Xinyong SHEN, Wenyan HUANG, Chunyan GUO, Xiaocen JIANG, 2016: Precipitation Responses to Radiative Effects of Ice Clouds: A Cloud-Resolving Modeling Study of a Pre-Summer Torrential Precipitation Event, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 33, 1137-1142. doi: 10.1007/s00376-016-5218-8
[19]	Li Maicun, Yao Dirong, 1985: SOME RESULTS OF APPLICATIONS OF STATISTICAL METHOD TO CLIMATE CHANGES AND SHORT-TERM CLIMATE PREDICTION IN CHINA, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 2, 271-281. doi: 10.1007/BF02677243
[20]	Hengchun YE, Zhenhao BAO, 2005: Eurasian Snow Conditions and Summer Monsoon Rainfall over South and Southeast Asia:Assessment and Comparison, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 22, 877-888. doi: 10.1007/BF02918687

PDF

Get Citation+

Export:

Article Metrics

Article Views: 1214 Times

PDF downloads: 1344 Times

Cited by: Times

Proportional views

Manuscript History

Manuscript received: 10 January 1991

Manuscript revised: 10 January 1991

通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

1.
沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142

Some Physical Aspects of Summer Monsoon Clouds-Comparison of Cloud Model Results with Observations

1. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune 411 008, India,Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune 411 008, India,Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune 411 008, India

Manuscript received: 1991-01-10
Manuscript revised: 1991-01-10

Abstract: The physical characteristics of the summer monsoon clouds were investigated. The results of a simple cloud mod-el were compared with the aircraft cloud physical observations collected during the summer monsoon seasons of 1973,1974,1976 and 1981 in the Deccan Plateau region.The model predicted profiles of cloud liquid water content (LWC) are in agreement with the observed profiles. There is reasonable agreement between the model predicted cloud vertical thickness and observed rainfall.The observed cloud-drop spectra were found to be narrow and the concentration of drops with diameter >20μm is either low or absent on many occasions. In such clouds the rain-formation cannot take place under natural atmos-pheric conditions due to the absence of collision-coalescence process. A comparison of the model predicted and ob-served rainfall suggested that the precipitation efficiency in cumulus clouds of small vertical thickness could be as low as 20 per cent.The clouds forming in the Deccan Plateau region during the summer monsoon are, by and large, cumulus and strato-cumulus type. The vertical thickness of the cumulus clouds is in the range of 1.0-2.0 km. The LWC is found to be more in the region between 1.6-1.9 km A. S. L., which corresponds to the level at almost 3 / 4 th of the total verti-cal thickness of the cloud and thereafter the LWC sharply decreased. Nearly 98 per cent of the tops of the low clouds in the region are below freezing level and the most frequent range of occurrence of these cloud-tops is in the range of 2.0-3.0 km A. S. L.. The dominant physical mechanism of rain-formation in these summer monsoon clouds it the col-lision-coalescence process.