The north-northwest-propagating low pressure systems (LPS) are an important component of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The objective detection and tracking of LPS in reanalysis products and climate model simulations are challenging because of the weak structure of the LPS compared to tropical cyclones. Therefore, the skill of reanalyses and climate models in simulating the monsoon LPS is unknown. A robust method is presented here to objectively identify and track LPS, which mimics the conventional identification and tracking algorithm based on detecting closed isobars on surface pressure charts. The new LPS tracking technique allows a fair comparison between the observed and simulated LPS. The analysis based on the new tracking algorithm shows that the reanalyses from ERA-Interim and MERRA were able to reproduce the observed climatology and interannual variability of the monsoon LPS with a fair degree of accuracy. Further, the newly developed LPS detection and tracking algorithm is also applied to the climate model simulations of phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The CMIP5 models show considerable spread in terms of their skill in LPS simulation. About 60% of the observed total summer monsoon precipitation over east-central India is found to be associated with LPS activities, while in model simulations this ratio varies between 5% and 60%. Those models that simulate synoptic activity realistically are found to have better skill in simulating seasonal mean monsoon precipitation. The model-to-model variability in the simulated synoptic activity is found to be linked to the intermodel spread in zonal wind shear over the Indian region, which is further linked to inadequate representation of the tropical easterly jet in climate models. These findings elucidate the mechanisms behind the model simulation of ISM precipitation, synoptic activity, and their interdependence.

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SignificancePropagating atmospheric vortices contribute more than half of the total rainfall received by the fertile and highly populated Gangetic plains of India. How the activity of these storms will change in a warming climate is not yet understood, due to both the inadequate representation of these disturbances in global climate models and a lack of theory for their fundamental dynamics. Here we show that both a high-resolution atmospheric model and a statistical model predict that the activity of these storms weakens and shifts poleward from ocean to land in a warmer environment. The associated changes in seasonal mean rainfall and precipitation extremes are expected to have serious implications for the hydrological cycle of South Asia.

Monsoon low‐pressure systems (LPSs) contribute to more than half of the total summer monsoon rainfall over central India. As their genesis mechanism is not well understood, the LPS‐related precipitation contribution is ill represented in climate models, which has contributed to the underestimation of rainfall over central India in climate model simulations. Two hundred fifty‐six cases of LPS initiations over the Bay of Bengal during 1979 to 2017summer seasons were analyzed, and it was found that 68% of the systems were initiated in situ, while the remaining 32% were initiated by downstream amplification of wave disturbances from the western Pacific. Detailed analysis reveals that the LPS generated by the two mechanisms have similar dynamic and thermodynamic features. A declining trend is also observed in the number of downstream generated cases indicating that it would become increasingly difficult to predict the initiation of LPS in the future.

Almost all climate models in Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project phase five (CMIP5) were found to have a cold bias in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) over the northern Arabian Sea, which is linked to the biases in the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). This cold SST bias was attributed to the anomalous cold winds from the north-western part of south Asian landmass during boreal winter. However, the origin of the anomalously strong cold winds over the Arabian Sea and its association with the large-scale circulation is obscure. Here we show that an equatorward bias in subtropical Jetstream during boreal spring season anomalously cools down the northern Arabian Sea and adjoining land regions in CMIP5 models. The models with stronger equatorward bias in subtropical jet are also the ones with stronger cold SST bias over the Arabian Sea. The equatorward shift coupled with enhanced strength of the subtropical jet produce a stronger upper tropospheric convergence, leading to a subsidence and divergence at lower levels over the Arabian deserts. The low entropy air flowing from the Arabian land mass cools the northern Arabian Sea. The weaker meridional temperature gradients in the colder models substantially weaken ISM precipitation.

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