Active and Break spells of the Indian

summer monsoon

By,
Swadhish v.v
16CL06007
M.Tech 1st year(CST)
 Definitions
• . Webster et al(1998) used the term ‘break’ to denote
weak spells of convection and 850 hPa zonal winds
over a larger region (65–95◦E, 10–20◦N).
• Goswami and Ajayamohan (2001) defined ‘breaks’ on
the basis of the strength of the 850 hPa wind at the
single grid-point 15◦N,90◦E.
• Krishnanet al(2000) defined break days as days with
positive OLR anomalies over northwest and central
India (i.e., only over the western part of the monsoon
trough zone), provided the average OLR anomaly over
73–82◦E, 18–28◦N exceeds 10 Wm−2.
 Definitions
• Active and break events are defined as periods
during the peak monsoon months of July and
August, in which the normalized anomaly of
the rainfall over a critical area, called the
monsoon core zone exceeds 1 or is less than
−1.0 respectively, provided the criterion is
satisfied for at least three consecutive days.
Intraseasonal variability
Active and break events based
on rainfall
• The tropical convergence zone (TCZ)
responsible for the large-scale rainfall during
the summer monsoon gets established over
the core monsoon zone at the culmination of
the onset phase of the monsoon.
• During the peak monsoon months of July and
August, the TCZ fluctuates primarily in this
zone.
Frequency distribution of the duration
of break and active spells in per cent
.
Variation of the number of active and
break days
Evolution of active and weak spells
 Intraseasonal and interannual
variations of ISMR
• It is recognized that intraseasonal variation and
particularly, long intense breaks can have an
impact on the seasonal total rainfall of the Indian
monsoon, there is no consensus as yet on the
extent of the contribution of the intraseasonal
variation to the interannual variation.
• The major difference between the rainfall
variation in good and some poor monsoon
seasons is the occurrence of a long dry spell
(break) in the latter
Intraseasonal and interannual
variations of ISMR
Long intense breaks and
heat troughs
 Summary
• The identification of active and break events is
based on the daily rainfall data averaged over the
monsoon core zone which is coherent with
respect to intraseasonal variation and over which
large fluctuations of rainfall occur on this scale.
• The core monsoon zone is a critical region for
interannual variation as well as intraseasonal
variation of the monsoon.
• The breaks tend to have a longer lifespan
(average 6 days) than active spells (average
4days).
 Automatic control

DETECTOR
Response

EMISSION SOURCE
SOURCE CONTROL ATMOSPHERE

Response
RECEPTOR

Legislative action
 Population Population
Rank City Rank City Population(2011) Population(2001)
(2011) (2001)

1 Mumbai 12,442,373 11,978,450 26 Nashik 1,486,973 1,077,236

2 Delhi 11,034,555 9,879,172 27 Faridabad 1,404,653 1,055,938

3 Bangalore 8,443,675 4,301,326 28 Meerut 1,309,023 1,039,405

4 Hyderabad 6,993,262 3,637,483 29 Rajkot 1,286,995 967,476

5 Ahmedabad 5,577,940 3,520,085 30 Kalyan-Dombivali 1,246,381 1,193,512

6 Chennai 4,646,732 4,343,645 31 Vasai-Virar 1,221,233 693,350

7 Kolkata 4,496,694 4,572,876 32 Varanasi 1,201,815 1,091,918

8 Surat 4,467,797 2,433,835 33 Srinagar 1,192,792 898,440

9 Pune 3,124,458 2,538,473 34 Aurangabad 1,171,330 873,311

10 Jaipur 3,046,163 2,322,575 35 Dhanbad 1,161,561 1,065,327

11 Lucknow 2,817,105 2,185,927 36 Amritsar 1,132,761 966,862

12 Kanpur 2,765,348 2,551,337 37 Navi Mumbai 1,119,477 704,002

13 Nagpur 2,405,665 2,052,066 38 Allahabad 1,117,094 975,393

14 Visakhapatnam 2,035,922 982,904 39 Ranchi 1,073,440 847,093

15 Indore 1,960,631 1,474,968 40 Howrah (city area) 1,072,161 1,007,532

16 Thane 1,818,872 1,262,551 41 Jabalpur 1,054,336 932,484
17 Bhopal 1,798,218 1,437,354 42 Gwalior 1,053,505 827,026

18 Pimpri-Chinchwad 1,729,359 1,012,472 43 Vijayawada 1,034,358 851,282

19 Patna 1,683,200 1,366,444 44 Jodhpur 1,033,918 851,051

20 Vadodara 1,666,703 1,306,227 45 Raipur 1,010,087 605,747

21 Ghaziabad 1,636,068 968,256 46 Kota[22] 1,001,694 694,316

22 Ludhiana 1,613,878 1,398,467 47 Guwahati 963,429 809,895

23 Coimbatore[19] 1,601,438 930,882 48 Chandigarh 960,787 808,515