Thermal effect of the Southeast Asian low-latitude highlands on interannual variability in the date of the Bay of Bengal summer monsoon onset

Abstract

The timing of the Bay of Bengal summer monsoon (BOBSM) onset has implications for the evolution of the Asian summer monsoon and associated precipitation. This study employs Japanese 55-year Reanalysis and NOAA's Gridded Precipitation Reconstruction over Land data to explore the spatiotemporal variation in the thermal influence of the Southeast Asian low-latitude highlands (SEALLH) and its effect on the BOBSM onset date. There is a significant correlation between pre-monsoon season (February–April) shortwave radiative heating (SWH) in the SEALLH and BOBSM onset in the interannual time scale. During the enhanced SWH, an anomalous vertical circulation, which converges and ascends in the lower troposphere over the SEALLH and converges and descends in the upper troposphere north of the Bay of Bengal (BOB), develops over the SEALLH–north of BOB during the pre-monsoon season with anticlockwise rotation. The warmer air mass resulting from the adiabatic heating is accumulated around the north of BOB by the insulation effect related to the anomalous vertical circulation. By facilitating the reversal of the land-sea thermal contrast, the warmer upper troposphere over the north of the BOB causes a 16-day earlier onset of the BOBSM than the case of weakened SWH. The findings shed light on subsequent research into the thermal effects of the SEALLH on Asian summer monsoon variability.