Abstract
Severe summer droughts of the Indian subcontinent have been found to accompany prolonged ‘breaks’ in the south-west monsoon. Data from the years of severe drought suggest that the associated breaks were due to upper tropospheric blocking ridges over East Asia. We present here a model for the evolution of two such blocking ridges: the East Asia (EABR) and the West Asia (WABR). Apparently an intense WABR—the initiator of the monsoon break—precedes the formation of the EABR. This cycle could be a way of predicting years of intense drought or monsoon activity.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ramaswamy, C. Geophysica 6, 455–477 (1958).
Ramaswamy, C. Tellus 14, 337–349 (1962).
Ramaswamy, C. Bull. Ind. natn. Sci. Acad. 54, 109–132 (1975–76).
Ramanathan, A. S. J. mar. Biol. Ass. Ind. 14, 843–861 (1972).
Raman, C. R. V., Rao, Y. P. & Alvi, S. M. A. Curr. Sci. Ind. 49, 123–129 (1980).
Synoptic Bull. Northern Hemisphere Parts I–III (USSR, 1960–1978).
Simmons, A. J. & Hoskins, B. J. J. atmos. Sci. 36, 1239–1254 (1979).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Raman, C., Rao, Y. Blocking highs over Asia and monsoon droughts over India. Nature 289, 271–273 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/289271a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/289271a0
This article is cited by
-
The recent trends in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall
Environment, Development and Sustainability (2024)
-
Improvement in the skill of CMIP6 decadal hindcasts for extreme rainfall events over the Indian summer monsoon region
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Recent calamitous climate change in India (1990–2019)
Theoretical and Applied Climatology (2023)
-
Understanding the Physical Processes in Indian Monsoon Onset Extremes
Pure and Applied Geophysics (2022)
-
Association of the shift of the South Asian high in June with the diabatic heating in spring
Climate Dynamics (2022)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.