@inbook{fd45233c8c7c47bfbd2f24549c36793b,
title = "Interannual Indian rainfall variability and Indian ocean sea surface temperature anomalies",
abstract = "It is shown that interannual variations in Indian continental rainfall during the southwest monsoon can be usefully represented by two regional rainfall indices. Indian rainfall is concentrated in two regions, each with strong mean and variance in precipitation: the Western Ghats (WG) and the Ganges-Mahanadi Basin (GB) region. Interannual variability of rainfall averaged over each of the two regions (WG and GB) is uncorrelated; however, the rainfall over these two regions together explains 90% of the interannual variance of All-India rainfall (AIR). The lack of correlation between WG and GB rainfall suggests that different mechanisms may account for their variability. During the period 1982-2001, rainfall variability over each of these two regions exhibits distinct relationships to Indian Ocean SST: warm SSTA over the western Arabian Sea at the monsoon onset is associated with increased WG rainfall (r = 0.77), while cool SSTA off of Java and Sumatra is associated with increased GB rainfall (r = −0.55). The connection between SSTA and AIR is considerably weaker, and represents the superposition of that associated with each region. We find the relationship with WG rainfall is robust, while that with GB results from a single exceptional year. Each region also exhibits distinct relationships to El Ni{\~n}o SSTA indices.",
author = "Vecchi, {Gabriel Andres} and Harrison, {D. E.}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.",
year = "2004",
doi = "10.1029/147GM14",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9780875904122",
series = "Geophysical Monograph Series",
publisher = "Blackwell Publishing Ltd.",
pages = "247--259",
editor = "S.P. Xie and J.A. Carton and C. Wang",
booktitle = "Earth?s Climate",
}