A Study of South Asian Monsoon Energetics

Abstract Monsoon forecasting is one of the most difficult components of the global weather prediction problem. The operational forecasts over the Asian monsoon region are known to have useful skill only for roughly 2–3 days. The rapid deterioration of monsoon forecasts can be attributed to a number of factors such as data deficiencies, physical parameterization in the forecast models, and representation of orography and surface boundary conditions, such as details of sea surface temperature, snow cover, etc. The study of energetics of the model output helps in understanding the above problems. This study is aimed toward the examination of the monsoon energetics. Here it is shown that the use of kinetic energies of the rotational and divergent motions have a special advantage. In order to show these features in the maintenance of a fully developed monsoon, the authors have taken the results of a global model. Such a model is internally consistent and given a reasonable forecast of the motion, thermal, and ...