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On the response of Indian summer monsoon to aerosol forcing in CMIP5 model simulations

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Abstract

The Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), which hosts 1/7th of the world population, has undergone significant anomalous changes in hydrological cycle in recent decades. In present study, the role of aerosols in the precipitation changes over IGP region is investigated using Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project-5 (CMIP5) experiments with adequate representation of aerosols in state-of-the art climate models. The climatological sea surface temperature experiments are used to explore the relative impact of the aerosols. The diagnostic analysis on representation of aerosols and precipitation over Indian region was investigated in CMIP5 models. After the evaluation, multi-model ensemble was used for further analysis. It is revealed from the analysis that aerosol-forcing plays an important role in observed weakening of the monsoon circulation and decreased precipitation over the IGP region. The significant cooling of the continental Indian region (mainly IGP) caused by the aerosols leads to reduction in land sea temperature contrast, which further leads to weakening of monsoon overturning circulation and reduction in precipitation.

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Acknowledgments

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) is supported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, New Delhi. The authors thank Prof. B.N. Goswami, Former Director, IITM and Dr. R. Krishnan, Executive Director of CCCR for the encouragement and support to carry out the present work. SDS is thankful to Mr. Ramarao and Miss Priya for scientific discussions. SDS is also thankful to Dr. Anoop Mahajan for training in Mendeley software which helped to arrange references systematically. The datasets from MODIS, MISR, ERA-40 and GPCP are acknowledged with thanks. We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modeling, which is responsible for CMIP. We thank the climate modeling groups for producing and making available their model output.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, 411008, India

    S. D. Sanap & G. Pandithurai

  2. CMNS Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Centre, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    M. G. Manoj

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  1. S. D. Sanap
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Correspondence to G. Pandithurai.

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Sanap, S.D., Pandithurai, G. & Manoj, M.G. On the response of Indian summer monsoon to aerosol forcing in CMIP5 model simulations. Clim Dyn 45, 2949–2961 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2516-2

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