A Statistical Investigation of the Impact of the Indian Monsoon on the Eastern Mediterranean Circulation
1
Division of Environmental Physics and Meteorology, Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, Building Phys.-5, 15784 Athens, Greece
2
Sector of Geography and Climatology, Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zografou, University Campus, 15784 Athens, Greece
3
Laboratory of Meteorology, Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Atmosphere 2018, 9(3), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9030090
Received: 30 November 2017 / Revised: 21 February 2018 / Accepted: 23 February 2018 / Published: 1 March 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Atmospheric Physics: Selected Papers from CEST2017)
The Indian summer monsoon (ISM) is a prominent feature of the summer circulation in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and has been found to modulate the weather and climate conditions in many remote regions. This study investigates the most recurrent patterns of summertime midlatitude circulation, over the eastern Mediterranean (EM) and also globally, that are most associated with the ISM. Monthly data of 44 summers from the ERA40 dataset are used and two multidimensional statistical methods, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), are implemented. The ISM is found to be related to subsidence anomalies in the middle and more extendedly in the upper troposphere over the central and eastern Mediterranean and with an Etesian-like pattern regarding the field of the lower troposphere winds. An equatorial Rossby wave pattern, extending westward from an ISM heat source up to EM and N. Africa, was identified to be associated with the variability of ISM. The observed relationship between the ISM and the EM circulation features can be attributed to this equatorial Rossby wave response to the monsoon forcing. CCA implementation revealed the interconnection of the aforementioned PCA results with an ISM action center over the northern Arabian Sea and the monsoon trough region.
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Keywords:
Indian summer monsoon; eastern Mediterranean; Rossby waves; Etesians; subsidence; PCA; CCA
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MDPI and ACS Style
Rizou, D.; Flocas, H.A.; Hatzaki, M.; Bartzokas, A. A Statistical Investigation of the Impact of the Indian Monsoon on the Eastern Mediterranean Circulation. Atmosphere 2018, 9, 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9030090
AMA Style
Rizou D, Flocas HA, Hatzaki M, Bartzokas A. A Statistical Investigation of the Impact of the Indian Monsoon on the Eastern Mediterranean Circulation. Atmosphere. 2018; 9(3):90. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9030090
Chicago/Turabian StyleRizou, Despina; Flocas, Helena A.; Hatzaki, Maria; Bartzokas, Aristides. 2018. "A Statistical Investigation of the Impact of the Indian Monsoon on the Eastern Mediterranean Circulation" Atmosphere 9, no. 3: 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9030090
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