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Full-Text Articles in Meteorology

Enhanced Pre-Monsoon Warming Over The Himalayan-Gangetic Region From 1979-2007, Ritesh Gautam, N. C. Hsu, K. M. Lau, S.-C. Tsay, Menas Kafatos Jan 2009

Enhanced Pre-Monsoon Warming Over The Himalayan-Gangetic Region From 1979-2007, Ritesh Gautam, N. C. Hsu, K. M. Lau, S.-C. Tsay, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Fundamental to the onset of the Indian Summer Monsoon is the land-sea thermal gradient from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayas-Tibetan Plateau (HTP). The timing of the onset is strongly controlled by the meridional tropospheric temperature gradient due to the rapid premonsoon heating of the HTP compared to the relatively cooler Indian Ocean. Analysis of tropospheric temperatures from the longest available record of microwave satellite measurements reveals widespread warming over the Himalayan-Gangetic region and consequent strengthening of the land-sea thermal gradient. This trend is most pronounced in the pre-monsoon season, resulting in a warming of 2.7 C in the 29-year …


Contrasting The 2007 And 2005 Hurricane Seasons: Evidence Of Possible Impacts Of Saharan Dry Air And Dust On Tropical Cyclone Activity In The Atlantic Basin, D. Sun, K. M. Lau, Menas Kafatos Jan 2008

Contrasting The 2007 And 2005 Hurricane Seasons: Evidence Of Possible Impacts Of Saharan Dry Air And Dust On Tropical Cyclone Activity In The Atlantic Basin, D. Sun, K. M. Lau, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In this study, we provide preliminary evidence of possible modulation by Saharan dust of hurricane genesis and intensification, by contrasting the 2007 and 2005 hurricane seasons. It is found that dust aerosol loadings over the Atlantic Ocean are much higher in 2007 than in 2005. The temperature difference between 2007 and 2005 shows warming in the low-middle troposphere (900–700 hPa) in the dusty region in the eastern North Atlantic, and cooling in the Main Development Region (MDR). The humidity (wind) differences between 2007 and 2005 indicate significant drying (subsidence) in the Western North Atlantic (WNA) in 2007. The drier air …


Frontogenesis In The North Pacific Oceanic Frontal Zones--A Numerical Simulation, Michael S. Dinniman, Michele M. Rienecker Jan 1999

Frontogenesis In The North Pacific Oceanic Frontal Zones--A Numerical Simulation, Michael S. Dinniman, Michele M. Rienecker

CCPO Publications

A primitive equation model [Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's (GFDL's) MOM 2] with one degree horizontal resolution is used to simulate the seasonal cycle of frontogenesis in the subarctic frontal zone (SAFZ) and the subtropical frontal zone (STFZ) of the North Pacific Ocean. The SAFZ in the model contains deep (greater than 500 m in some places) regions with seasonally varying high gradients in temperature and salinity. The gradients generally weaken toward the east. The STFZ consists of a relatively shallow (less than 200 m in most places) region of high gradient in temperature that disappears in the summer/fall. The high …