The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall
Abstract Monsoons have historically been understood to be caused by the low thermal inertia of land, allowing more energy from summer insolation to be transferred to the overlying atmosphere than over adjacent ocean. Here, we show that during boreal summer, the global maximum net energy input (NEI)...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2022-06-01
|
| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099283 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832591230085627904 |
|---|---|
| author | Nandini Ramesh William R. Boos |
| author_facet | Nandini Ramesh William R. Boos |
| author_sort | Nandini Ramesh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Monsoons have historically been understood to be caused by the low thermal inertia of land, allowing more energy from summer insolation to be transferred to the overlying atmosphere than over adjacent ocean. Here, we show that during boreal summer, the global maximum net energy input (NEI) to the atmosphere unexpectedly lies over the Indian Ocean, not over land. Observed radiative fluxes suggest that cloud‐radiative effects (CRE) almost double the NEI over ocean, shifting the NEI peak from land to ocean. Global climate model experiments with both land and interactive sea surface temperatures confirm that CRE create the oceanic NEI maximum. Interactions between CRE, NEI, circulation, and land‐sea contrast in surface heat capacity shift precipitation from Southeast to South Asia. CRE thus alter the global partitioning of precipitation between land and ocean and the spatial structure of Earth's strongest monsoon, in ways that can be understood through the NEI. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-514dea3015e74e15b15709273252effe |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-514dea3015e74e15b15709273252effe2025-01-22T14:38:16ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072022-06-014912n/an/a10.1029/2022GL099283The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon RainfallNandini Ramesh0William R. Boos1ARC Centre for Data Analytics for Resources and the Environment University of Sydney Darlington NSW AustraliaDepartment of Earth and Planetary Science University of California Berkeley CA USAAbstract Monsoons have historically been understood to be caused by the low thermal inertia of land, allowing more energy from summer insolation to be transferred to the overlying atmosphere than over adjacent ocean. Here, we show that during boreal summer, the global maximum net energy input (NEI) to the atmosphere unexpectedly lies over the Indian Ocean, not over land. Observed radiative fluxes suggest that cloud‐radiative effects (CRE) almost double the NEI over ocean, shifting the NEI peak from land to ocean. Global climate model experiments with both land and interactive sea surface temperatures confirm that CRE create the oceanic NEI maximum. Interactions between CRE, NEI, circulation, and land‐sea contrast in surface heat capacity shift precipitation from Southeast to South Asia. CRE thus alter the global partitioning of precipitation between land and ocean and the spatial structure of Earth's strongest monsoon, in ways that can be understood through the NEI.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099283monsoonsatmospheric dynamicstropical climatecloud radiative effectsland‐sea contrast |
| spellingShingle | Nandini Ramesh William R. Boos The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall Geophysical Research Letters monsoons atmospheric dynamics tropical climate cloud radiative effects land‐sea contrast |
| title | The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall |
| title_full | The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall |
| title_fullStr | The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall |
| title_short | The Unexpected Oceanic Peak in Energy Input to the Atmosphere and Its Consequences for Monsoon Rainfall |
| title_sort | unexpected oceanic peak in energy input to the atmosphere and its consequences for monsoon rainfall |
| topic | monsoons atmospheric dynamics tropical climate cloud radiative effects land‐sea contrast |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099283 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nandiniramesh theunexpectedoceanicpeakinenergyinputtotheatmosphereanditsconsequencesformonsoonrainfall AT williamrboos theunexpectedoceanicpeakinenergyinputtotheatmosphereanditsconsequencesformonsoonrainfall AT nandiniramesh unexpectedoceanicpeakinenergyinputtotheatmosphereanditsconsequencesformonsoonrainfall AT williamrboos unexpectedoceanicpeakinenergyinputtotheatmosphereanditsconsequencesformonsoonrainfall |