Identifying moisture transport pathways for north‐west India

Joshi, Suneel Kumar; Kumar, Sudhir; Sinha, Rajiv; Prakash, Shive; Khobragade, S. D.; Rao, M. Someshwar

doi:10.1002/gj.4759

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(124 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, several studies (Krishnan et al 2016, Guhathakurta et al 2017, Joshi et al 2023b have pointed out that the local surface warming of the Indian subcontinent and the rise in humidity levels have a direct role in increased extreme rainfall events. Roxy et al (2017) revealed a threefold increase in widespread extreme rainfall across the Central Indian regions primarily because of the significant contribution of moisture transport from the Arabian Sea since the 1950s.…”

Section: Physical Connections Between Pre-and Post-1960 Monsoon Rainfallmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological impacts of altered monsoon rain spells in the Indian Ganga basin: a century-long perspective

Maurya,

Swarnkar,

Prakash

2024

Environ. Res.: Climate

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Indian Ganga Basin (IGB) is one of the most valuable socioeconomic regions in the Indian subcontinent. The IGB supports more than half a billion people due to an abundant supply of freshwater for agro-industrial purposes, primarily through Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) rainfall contributions (~85%). Any alterations in ISM characteristics would significantly affect freshwater availability, and as a result, socioeconomic activities would be affected. Therefore, in this study, we have attempted to assess how the monsoon rain spell characteristics, i.e., peak, volume, and duration, altered historically between 1901 to 2019. We further analyzed the specific IGB regions where monsoon rain spell changes are more prominent and their hydrological implications. Our estimates reveal that short-duration high-magnitude rain spells have significantly increased across the major regions of the IGB after 1960, which implies the increased probabilities of flash flood hazards. At the same time, the rain spell volumes have been depleted across the IGB after 1960, especially in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains and southern IGB regions, indicating increased drought frequencies. Further, Himalayan regions, i.e., upper Ganga, upper Yamuna, and upper Ghaghra, have demonstrated increasing magnitudes of rain spell peaks, volume, and duration post-1960. In addition, the continuous warming and anthropogenic alterations might further exaggerate the current situation. Thus, these inferences are helpful for river basin management strategies to deal with the extreme hydrological disasters in the IGB.

show abstract

Section: Physical Connections Between Pre-and Post-1960 Monsoon Rainfallmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological impacts of altered monsoon rain spells in the Indian Ganga basin: a century-long perspective

Maurya,

Swarnkar,

Prakash

2024

Environ. Res.: Climate

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We evaluate the causal interference between these hydro-climatic variables using the MCI approach with a maximum 2-day lag period (τmax = 2) and a limit for significance set to 0.05 (α = 0.05), in order to examine the spatially interdependence relationships among each of these variables during 2-day event periods. (Joshi et al, 2023). Over the past decade, researchers have used the HYSPLIT model to identify moisture sources (Wang et al, 2017;Joshi et al, 2023).…”

Section: Causal Discovery Among Hydro-climatic Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Joshi et al, 2023). Over the past decade, researchers have used the HYSPLIT model to identify moisture sources (Wang et al, 2017;Joshi et al, 2023). To determine the backward trajectory following an anomalous precipitation event, this study used the HYSPLIT model.…”

Section: Causal Discovery Among Hydro-climatic Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphic imprint of high mountain floods: Insight from the 2022 hydrological extreme across the Upper Indus terrain in NW Himalayas

Kashyap,

Cook,

Behera

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The interaction of tectonics, surface processes, and climate extremes impacts how the landscape responds to extreme hydrological events. An anomalous precipitation event in 2022 occurred during the monsoon season along the lower reaches of the Upper Indus River, resulting in short-lived high-magnitude flooding and socioeconomic disruption downstream. To understand the spatial relationship between the geomorphic response and climatic controls of this flood event, as well as their primary triggers, we performed a landscape analysis using topographic metrics and quantified the causal association between hydro-climatic variables. Temperature anomalies in upstream glaciated sub-catchments had a considerable impact on snow cover distribution, based on our observations. As snow cover changed, glacial melt runoff rose, contributing to increased fluvial stream power after traversing higher-order reaches. The higher-order reaches of the Upper Indus River received an anomalously high amount of precipitation, which, when combined with substantial glacial and melt discharge, contributed to an extreme flood across the high-relief steep gradient channels. The flood-affected regions had a high mean basin ksn and SL-index, including numerous spikes in their magnitudes along their channel profiles downstream. To determine how the lower reaches of the Upper Indus River responded to this flood event, we employed the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) as change indicator metrics. We observed an inverse causal influence of NDWI on EVI and a statistically significant relationship between anomalous stream power and relative EVI, suggesting that downstream channel morphology changed rapidly during this episodic event and highlighting EVI as a useful indicator of geomorphic change. We suggest that this extreme flood event is a result of the interaction of anomalous glacial melt and anomalous precipitation over a high-relief landscape, with a certain causal connection with anomalous temperature over the event duration. The synoptic observations suggest that this meteorological condition involves the interaction of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Western Disturbance (WD) moisture fluxes. However, the geomorphic consequences of such anomalous monsoon periods, as well as their influence on long-term landscape change, are still unclear.

show abstract

“…A few studies have attributed the high D-excess to local recycling, in other words, evaporation from the subcontinent itself (Jeelani et al, 2018;Oza et al, 2022;Joshi et al, 2023). Local moisture recycling as the dominant source is unlikely given the volume required to feed the snowpacks and glaciers and support agriculture, and the frequency with which heavy precipitation events occur during the winter months.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Western disturbances and climate variability: a review of recent developments

Hunt,

Baudouin,

Turner

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Western disturbances (WDs) are synoptic-scale weather systems embedded within the subtropical westerly jet. Manifesting as upper-level troughs often associated with a lower-tropospheric low over Western India, they share some dynamical features with extratropical cyclones. WDs are most common during the boreal winter (December to March), during which they bring the majority of precipitation – both rain and snow – to the Western Himalaya, as well as to surrounding areas of north India, Pakistan and the Tibetan Plateau. WDs are also associated with weather hazards such as heavy snowfall, hailstorms, fog, cloudbursts, avalanches, frost, and coldwaves. In this paper, we review the recent understanding and development on WDs. Recent studies have collectively made use of novel data, novel analysis techniques, and the increasing availability of high-resolution weather and climate models. This review is separated into six main sections – structure and thermodynamics, precipitation and impacts, teleconnections, modelling experiments, forecasting at a range of scales, and paleoclimate and climate change – each motivated with a brief discussion of the accomplishments and limitations of previous research. A number of step changes in understanding are synthesised. Use of new modelling frameworks and tracking algorithms has significantly improved knowledge of WD structure and variability, and a more frequentist approach can now be taken. Improved observation systems have helped quantification of water security over the Western Himalaya. Convection-permitting models have improved our understanding of how WDs interact with the Himalayas to trigger natural hazards. Improvements in paleoclimate and future climate modelling experiments have helped to explain how WDs and their impacts over the Himalaya respond to large-scale natural and anthropogenic forcings. We end by summarising unresolved questions and outlining key future WD research topics.

show abstract

Identifying moisture transport pathways for north‐west India

Cited by 6 publications

References 60 publications

Hydrological impacts of altered monsoon rain spells in the Indian Ganga basin: a century-long perspective

Hydrological impacts of altered monsoon rain spells in the Indian Ganga basin: a century-long perspective

Geomorphic imprint of high mountain floods: Insight from the 2022 hydrological extreme across the Upper Indus terrain in NW Himalayas

Western disturbances and climate variability: a review of recent developments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About