The Onset of the Australian Monsoon During Winter MONEX: Synoptic Aspects

Abstract

A case study is presented of the onset of the Southern Hemisphere summer monsoon at longitudes near Australia during December 1978. The numerical analyses comprising this case study are used in conjunction with station data and operational manually derived analyses for other years to investigate the following: 1) the case or definition of monsoon onset; 2) the three-dimensional structure of the troposphere during an active monsoon situation; and 3) the flow changes preceding and during the transition from a period of suppressed to a period of enhanced cumulonimbus activity over tropical Australia. A well-defined onset occurs in six of the seven years considered. Onset, defined as a satellite-observed, large-scale increase in tropical convection, is consistent with that determined by the wind criterion of Troup (1961). In 1978 onset occurs in two stages: an increase in convergence, followed by an increase in convection. The monsoon cloudiness exists entirely in the region of low-level westerly wind. The convergence extends through a deep layer from the surface to 400 mb and exists in the upward branch of two linked Hadley cells, one from each of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Observations of the flow changes prior to onset lead to the hypothesis that the trigger mechanism lies in the Southern Hemisphere subtropics. It is conjectured that the seasonal buildup of planetary-scale land-sea temperature gradients has reached a critical stage such that the troposphere is in a state of readiness for the monsoon. Before the onset can take place, however, it must wait for the Southern Hemisphere midlatitude synoptic systems to be in such a configuration that low-level trade wind easterlies are prevalent across the Australian continent. The evidence is discussed also in favor of various alternative triggering mechanisms such as the influence of a Northern Hemisphere cold surge in the South China Sea and the westward propagation of equatorward westerlies from the Pacific Ocean near the international date line.