Vertical Structure of the Southwest Monsoon Low-Level Jet over the Central and Eastern Arabian Sea

Abstract

The vertical structure of the low-level wind jet over the Arabian Sea during the southwest monsoon is modeled by using the geostrophic wind shear (thermal wind) and a two-layer boundary layer model. We show that geostrophic wind shear is dominant above the low-level wind maximum while turbulent momentum exchange is dominant below. Both effects combine to produce a low-level wind jet. Model results compare well with observations obtained from a research aircraft during the 1979 Summer Monsoon Experiment.