Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics

In Malaysia precipitation prevails throughout the year. However, the southwest monsoon (late May to September) is characterised with low precipitation, less cloud, high outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and often featured by dry epochs. Therefore, onset of the monsoon here is best determined by con...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy, Jayakrishnan, P.R., Samah, Azizan Abu, Ooi, See Hai, Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus, Lim, Chai Heng
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
_version_ 1825721834777083904
author Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy
Jayakrishnan, P.R.
Samah, Azizan Abu
Ooi, See Hai
Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus
Lim, Chai Heng
author_facet Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy
Jayakrishnan, P.R.
Samah, Azizan Abu
Ooi, See Hai
Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus
Lim, Chai Heng
author_sort Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy
collection UM
description In Malaysia precipitation prevails throughout the year. However, the southwest monsoon (late May to September) is characterised with low precipitation, less cloud, high outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and often featured by dry epochs. Therefore, onset of the monsoon here is best determined by considering multiple onset parameters such as wind, OLR, rainfall and relative humidity. We used modified Malaysian Meteorological Department wind shear index based on major convection centres during the monsoon onset. The 850 hPa winds were chosen to investigate the onsets of the monsoon in view of the marked orographic and mesoscale processes. The next criterion was the presence of sustained westerlies averaged between 850 hPa and 600 hPa from all the available radiosonde stations data over Malaysia for at least 5 days. As the strongest convective activity in the tropics is represented by OLR of less than 220 W m-2, the third criterion was to check whether the value of OLR was greater than 220 W m-2 over the region. The mean date of the summer monsoon onset over Malaysia is found to be 19 May, with a standard deviation of 8 days. Further, climatological composites show that there is a gradual change from easterlies to westerlies from the surface up to 500 hPa in Malaysian stations both in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia during May. OLR and rainfall analysis reveal that, the southwest monsoon daily rainfall over Malaysia is less than 10 mm and OLR is greater than 220 W m-2. Additionally, monsoon onset tends to be late during the El Niño years and earlier during the La Niña years.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T05:56:24Z
format Article
id um.eprints-22246
institution Universiti Malaya
last_indexed 2024-03-06T05:56:24Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling um.eprints-222462019-09-05T02:31:29Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/22246/ Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy Jayakrishnan, P.R. Samah, Azizan Abu Ooi, See Hai Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus Lim, Chai Heng G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation Q Science (General) QH Natural history In Malaysia precipitation prevails throughout the year. However, the southwest monsoon (late May to September) is characterised with low precipitation, less cloud, high outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and often featured by dry epochs. Therefore, onset of the monsoon here is best determined by considering multiple onset parameters such as wind, OLR, rainfall and relative humidity. We used modified Malaysian Meteorological Department wind shear index based on major convection centres during the monsoon onset. The 850 hPa winds were chosen to investigate the onsets of the monsoon in view of the marked orographic and mesoscale processes. The next criterion was the presence of sustained westerlies averaged between 850 hPa and 600 hPa from all the available radiosonde stations data over Malaysia for at least 5 days. As the strongest convective activity in the tropics is represented by OLR of less than 220 W m-2, the third criterion was to check whether the value of OLR was greater than 220 W m-2 over the region. The mean date of the summer monsoon onset over Malaysia is found to be 19 May, with a standard deviation of 8 days. Further, climatological composites show that there is a gradual change from easterlies to westerlies from the surface up to 500 hPa in Malaysian stations both in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia during May. OLR and rainfall analysis reveal that, the southwest monsoon daily rainfall over Malaysia is less than 10 mm and OLR is greater than 220 W m-2. Additionally, monsoon onset tends to be late during the El Niño years and earlier during the La Niña years. Elsevier 2018 Article PeerReviewed Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy and Jayakrishnan, P.R. and Samah, Azizan Abu and Ooi, See Hai and Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus and Lim, Chai Heng (2018) Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 179. pp. 81-93. ISSN 1364-6826, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2018.06.017 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2018.06.017>. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2018.06.017 doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2018.06.017
spellingShingle G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy
Jayakrishnan, P.R.
Samah, Azizan Abu
Ooi, See Hai
Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus
Lim, Chai Heng
Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
title Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
title_full Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
title_fullStr Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
title_full_unstemmed Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
title_short Southwest monsoon onset dates over Malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
title_sort southwest monsoon onset dates over malaysia and associated climatological characteristics
topic G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
work_keys_str_mv AT chenolisheebanettukandy southwestmonsoononsetdatesovermalaysiaandassociatedclimatologicalcharacteristics
AT jayakrishnanpr southwestmonsoononsetdatesovermalaysiaandassociatedclimatologicalcharacteristics
AT samahazizanabu southwestmonsoononsetdatesovermalaysiaandassociatedclimatologicalcharacteristics
AT ooiseehai southwestmonsoononsetdatesovermalaysiaandassociatedclimatologicalcharacteristics
AT ahmadmazukimuhammadyunus southwestmonsoononsetdatesovermalaysiaandassociatedclimatologicalcharacteristics
AT limchaiheng southwestmonsoononsetdatesovermalaysiaandassociatedclimatologicalcharacteristics